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

As Senator Urquhart ought to know, shipping, especially across Bass Strait, is a costly business. It is one of the most expensive stretches in the world to ship a product across. As a result, it is prejudicing onshore Tasmanian jobs. The manufacturers and agricultural producers are finding it more difficult to get their product to world markets. Why? Because direct international shipping services to Tasmania are no longer continuing, because of Labor's 2012 coastal shipping changes.