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

I thought I had already dealt with that. A minister of the Crown—much as we think we are important—has to abide by the law. And the law in this country is that if there are problems from a company administration point of view, the relevant authority is not the minister but ASIC.

In the event that the workers' entitlements have not been looked after by former directors or a former company then it is not for me to reach into a bucket. The proper process is to go through under Labor's Fair Entitlements Guarantee legislation, and I will seek to do everything I can to expedite that. So what can I do practically? I can report the company to ASIC—done that. I can say to the department, 'Please administer FEG as quickly as you possibly can, under the legislation'—I have done that as well.