Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Furner for his second supplementary question. A levy of course is never popular. It is not an easy decision to make. The Gillard government understands this, and Mr Abbott understands it also. We know that Mr Abbott supports levies, because he said less than one year ago:

... sometimes for very, very important social reasons, for national interest reasons you have got to say we need the money ...

We know that Mr Abbott and the Liberals support levies. A levy was good enough for Mr Abbott to fund the Howard government’s guns buyback. A levy was good enough to fund his election promises. I call on Mr Abbott and the Liberals to support this levy and fund the reconstruction of Queensland. This government is making the tough and responsible decisions to fund the reconstruction after these unprecedented natural disasters. What we have seen from the Liberals is the same ‘opposition for opposition’s sake’. (Time expired)