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

You can shake your head; you can deny the obvious and you can deny the fact but, I am sorry, that is what the Productivity Commission said. We can deny that which the Productivity Commission said, but that is the biggest issue.

The problem that Boyer faces is this: to get a roll of newsprint all the way from New Zealand to Melbourne costs so much less than getting it across Bass Strait. The reason for that is the unduly high cost of coastal shipping around Australia, courtesy of the changes made by the Labor-Green majority in the Senate just a few years ago.

Am I aware of the problems of Bass Strait and the cost impediment it is to jobs, to Tasmanians? I have been aware of that for 21 years in this place and for many years before that, because the Liberal Party has a very proud tradition—