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

Once you get a mandate from the Australian people you are duty-bound to seek to implement that mandate, and that is what the coalition government is seeking to do by bringing in the legislation we promised we would. But what we would invite the Australian Labor Party to do, given how manically obsessed they are with ensuring we do not get the opportunity to implement our policies is: how about giving us the chance of actually implementing your policies, like the $2.3 billion cut you agreed to in your 'funny money' budgeting before the election? They agreed to $2.3 billion worth of cuts which we adopted and we are seeking to implement. We adopted their policy after the election. They now repudiate their own policy, not only the wish of the Australian people. They are repudiating their own policies. I would invite them to get out of the way and allow us to clean up the mess they left.