Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

What we had in relation to the climate was a very high rate of unemployment from which Australia had suffered, with over one million of our fellow Australians on the unemployment scrap heap, courtesy of the Hawke-Keating government. We then drove down the unemployment rate to slightly above five per cent, and it hovered there for 20 months unabated. Then all of a sudden some changes were made to legislation, and since then the unemployment rate has consistently decreased. You have got to ask yourself: what was that circuit-breaker about two years ago?