Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I can say in answer to the Leader of the Australian Greens that I was personally briefed on this just before question time, and that is why I am providing the answer on behalf of the government. I have before me the letter from Mr Hunt to the Deputy Premier of Tasmania. It says: 'I refer to your letter concerning the outstanding payment.' So all that Mr Hunt was doing was abiding by the contractual obligation entered into by a previous government. It was an outstanding payment that needed to be paid, and in fact Mr Hunt finishes his letter by saying: 'I apologise for the delay in this matter.' So to somehow suggest, as has been done in Tasmania and elsewhere, that this payment is somehow a repudiation of our election promise in relation to Tasmanian forestry is completely and utterly without foundation. And of course the peddler of that is none other than the Deputy Premier of Tasmania, who has a few nicknames courtesy of his court appearances in that state, where he relied on the fact that he was not too good at reading documents and understanding the issues and therefore he should not be convicted. So let us be very clear as to what we are dealing with here. This is Mr Green either wantonly, or yet again accidentally, not understanding documentation that is being put in front of him. (Time expired)