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

I thank the Leader of the Australian Greens for allowing me to outline the vision that we as a government have for this great nation. When she was in cahoots with the former Labor government in this place there was no future. Indeed, the light at the end of the tunnel was the debt train rattling at us at 100 miles an hour. After tonight the light at the end of the tunnel will in fact be daylight where the future generations of Australians will be able to be satisfied that the government in 2014 took the right decisions to guarantee their future.

In relation to our vision for energy, one of the great advantages Australia has had over many generations has been our cheap energy, one of the great benefits we have had. We went to the Australian people on the very firm policy of abolishing the carbon tax, a tax we were promised we would never have, especially by the current Leader of the Opposition in this place and the Leader of the Opposition in the other place. So we have a vision to ensure the energy security for our country and a vision to reduce the cost of that energy so that the manufacturing sector, the agricultural sector and the tourism sector can be viable players in a very tough world environment. Why we want them to be viable players is because we know that they are the ones that create the jobs for our fellow Australians that allow them to run sustainable households in a manner where they control their destiny rather than the government controlling their destiny.