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

Tasmania clearly is a very special case. Senator Carr has mentioned that and the Prime Minister has mentioned that. The reason that it is is that it has had its economy driven into the ground by 16 years of Labor, the last four years of which were Labor-Green governments. They have destroyed the Tasmanian economy so that it now suffers from the worst unemployment rate in the country. And, what is more, on all the CommSec economic indicators Tasmania lags at the very bottom of the table except on one statistic, and that is unemployment.

We are committed to seeing that changed. We want to see it changed and that is why I invite those opposite and the Greens to vote with us to get rid of the carbon tax, to get rid of the mining tax, to get rid of the green and red tape and to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission—that is our plan. (Time expired)