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

Mr President, the council is about to meet later this month, and I am not going to pre-empt what the council might determine, because we actually want this council not to be the sort of ventriloquist doll of the government, like the Labor Party used to set up their task forces. We actually want this task force to talk to us, to tell us what the best way forward is for the Tasmanian economy. I can understand that Senator Urquhart believes that that is the way you do business. The people of Australia, and, in particular, Tasmania, voted for a change of government because they wanted a different style of government: a government that listened to the people, to get rid of the carbon tax, to get rid of the mining tax, to destroy that ridiculous forestry agreement—all those things that you, Senator Urquhart, championed, and the people of Tasmania rejected by electing Brett Whitely to the seat of Braddon. (Time expired)