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

In recent times, the people of Tasmania elected the Will Hodgman government. Tomorrow it will be delivering a state budget which seeks to repair the damage occasioned to that state and her people over the previous 16 years of Labor government, maladministration and destruction of its economy. What the Labor-Green government, in particular, left as a legacy to the people of Tasmania was an economy that on all the CommSec economic indicators was at the very, very bottom, except for one—that was the unemployment rate, where Tasmania, regrettably, topped the scales.

It was a shameful outcome. After 16 years, over 1½ decades, of Labor rule and, part of it, Labor-Greens rule, we saw what Labor governments do to an economy and, more importantly, to the people. Part of the disastrous Labor-Greens government, especially in more recent years, was what it did to the forestry sector in my home state of Tasmania. Through a so-called intergovernmental agreement, a so-called peace deal, which the people rejected overwhelmingly at the election in March, the Labor-Greens legacy was the destruction of livelihoods and communities from Triabunna to Zeehan and townships in between and people suffering in a manner that was completely and utterly unconscionable. The good news is that things are turning around in my home state of Tasmania and, what is more good news, I now see Senator McKenzie's appearance in the chamber. I will defer to her.