Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

When I was elected in 2013, there was no greater issue on the electorate's mind than fixing Tasmania's shipping and helping our businesses compete on a level playing field with mainland businesses when it comes to exports. I committed to fixing the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme and I have delivered: $203 million over four years to expand the scheme to include going to markets not currently covered by the TFES.

This government is doing everything it can to enable Tasmanian businesses to grow, to create employment and to capitalise on the three landmark free trade agreements finalised under its watch. While this government is enabling business in Tasmania, those opposite were economic vandals in Tasmania, and they continue to be economic vandals even in opposition.

After six years of trashing the joint, there was nothing quite so loud, two Fridays ago, as the sounds of silence from those opposite. There was not a peep out of the ALP, not a statement from the Leader of the Opposition and not a peep out of my tagger, Senator Anne Urquhart, or her colleagues. They have no ticker. They had no willingness to fight for the Tasmanian people or business, and now in opposition they are just as weak and just as silent. Where was the shadow minister for regional development? Where was the shadow minister for transport? Where was Senator Urquhart? The silence was deafening.

If this is the response of those opposite to an economic game-changing policy like the TFES, I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like with them back in government.

See this speech in context