Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

The simple answer is no, because there are over 200,000 people who will actually have jobs this Christmas who did not have jobs last Christmas. So you have well over 200,000 families this Christmas actually enjoying a wage.

In relation to the statistics in Tasmania, I daresay that could well be an indication of the consequences of the trade union movement and that state Labor government working together to keep people out of the federal system and under these old, decaying state awards. Undoubtedly, what I would suggest to Senator Fielding is that, if he is getting those sorts of statistics, he asks the state Labor government in Tasmania why they are holding wages back from the workers of Tasmania rather than freeing up the system so that people can enjoy the benefits of our industrial relations reforms.