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

With all the hyperventilation by the senator opposite, he did not even get his question out. But I will try and get to the crux of what I think he was doing and do him a favour. The fact that Toyota Australia has never blamed the union is not disputed.

But, of course, in a discussion in December last year Toyota had not made its decision to close its manufacturing operations, so how could they have in December blamed something for something they had not even decided? I see the hyperventilation of those opposite, seeking to deal with a matter on which, when this former minister presided over the demise of Mitsubishi and Ford, we took a principled bipartisan approach, acknowledging the difficulties this sector was in. We are now dealing with a mess left by Labor.