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

The signature policy of the government, of course, was the repeal of the carbon tax; let us make no bones about it. I will not allow Senator Wong to try to put words into the government's mouth. Indeed, we went to the election saying that we would stop the boats, repeal the carbon tax, restore the budget and stop the waste.

Let us put all this into context. We did go to the election seeking support from the Australian people for a paid parental leave scheme which was designed to assist with population growth, with productivity and with participation—fundamentally, vitally important issues. Indeed, for example, any comparative study of the female participation rate in the workforce in Canada as opposed to in Australia shows the sort of differential that we as a nation should seek to overcome, given that we know that as we speak at the moment there are currently five taxpayers for every pensioner, and by 2050 that will have changed to about 2½ taxpayers—