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

We actually listened to Senator Kim Carr, because when he was condemning the government of which he was a senior cabinet minister, and said that it was important to get a consistent government policy commitment, we thought it might be a good idea to get that consistency via a proper inquiry courtesy of the Productivity Commission—something that the former minister himself had six years to do, to get the sort of consistency that he acknowledges did not exist under his stewardship of the ministry.

And so we believed that it was an appropriate thing to do. Little did we realise that GM was at the cusp of making its decision, which it has now announced. And can I simply say to the honourable senator that the Australian people will not believe that GM made this decision after 2½ months of coalition government, without any impact from the factor of six years of Labor government. (Time expired)