Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Bass for his question and note that, by giving the Greens in Tasmania the political boot, Tasmania now is starting to see some green economic shoots. How good is that? All they had to do was get rid of the Greens. You would think the Greens exemplified prosperity and opportunity, but instead it was darkness and job losses. Construction work figures released yesterday show that construction in Tasmania is over nine per cent higher than a year ago.

That is a pretty common story across Australia; we are starting to see green shoots—certainly not related to the Greens!—in a number of different areas. Capital expenditure increased by 1.1 per cent in the June quarter 2014 driven by an increase in building and other structures—mainly residential—slightly higher than market expectations.

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