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

I can indicate to Senator Seselja and to the Senate that the first thing this government had to do on taking office was to begin to clean up the mess left by Labor and the Greens. There was the waste, there were the unfunded promises, there was the billions in debt and deficit, there were our porous borders, there was the Labor NBN debacle, there was the world's biggest carbon tax and there was a mining tax that was supposed to pay for everything but did not raise a single cent. And the way they turned back the workplace relations clock to the 1970s stalled job creation. That was just part of the mess that we had to clean up.

Since taking office, we have actually ended the waste—$50,000 million worth of waste has been cut from the budget, despite the Labor Party voting against their own savings measures. We are fixing the budget, and we are fixing Labor's NBN debacle. We have restored integrity to Australia's borders—restoring the integrity which has allowed us to take in 12,000 Syrians—clearly, people in genuine need. We have scrapped the carbon tax, we have scrapped the mining tax and we are working to stamp out union corruption and to bring our workplace relations laws back to a sensible balance. And we have negotiated the best trade agreement with China of any nation in the world.

These reforms have helped create over 300,000 more jobs and have given security to millions of Australian families and their household budgets. Our policies have made our economy stronger and our nation safer. There is always more to do, but Australia is now heading in the right direction. (Time expired)