Senate debates
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Questions without Notice
SPC Ardmona
2:10 pm
Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source
The Prime Minister was absolutely right when he said that Tasmania was a special case. After 16 years of state Labor government, the last four years of which have been a Green-Labor government in cahoots with a federal Labor-Green government, the Tasmanian economy now suffers. Mentioning the unemployment rate, Senator Carr: it is the highest rate of unemployment in the nation, of 7.6 per cent. That is the Labor legacy; that is the Labor-Green legacy, and that is why we say to the Tasmanian people that they have done half a job in electing a federal Liberal-National Party government, and they can do the other half of the job on 15 March by electing a majority Liberal government to get the economy back on track and to allow jobs growth to occur. Senator Carr says that the unemployment figure occurred under our watch, but it is under their budget and economic mismanagement that we got those figures. (Time expired)
William Boeder
Posted on 17 Feb 2014 1:37 pm
Perhaps now would be a good opportunity for Senator Eric Abetz to explain to his fellow Senators one of Tasmania's special case supportive statements that had allowed him to engage in his former real estate dealings conducted in a crude and quasi-legal manner that provided him with a huge boost to his then private means.
This Senator's undertakings became more noticeable after some internal lobbying was directed to the re-rezoning of his former Tasmanian Channel highway properties.
There were a number of unique and intriguing elements involved in this series of land transactions, consequently all the ensuing benefits were restricted to the good Senator himself.
Perhaps a new slogan that the good Senator could espouse is: do as I say, do not do as I have done.