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

Senator Rice and Senator Lines can shake their heads. They can use whatever language or demonstrative behaviour they like but the reality is, and the Australian people know, that today, as we speak, courtesy of Labor's legacy of deficit and debt, we are borrowing $1,000 million per month to pay the interest on the existing loans. Guess who has got to pay that back with interest—the next generation.

As a government, we have our eyes to the next generation. We cannot look our children in the eyes and say that it is good management for our nation to borrow money from overseas to potentially enable extra funds to be paid. Let's make no mistake: government has no money. Government gets its money from taxpayers. So if you want to put some extra money into a fellow Australian's pocket you first have to sneak it out of somebody else's pocket. It is called equity; it is called what is reasonable.

Under Labor's own national employment standards, legislated in the Fair Work Act, the minimum on the redundancy is 16 weeks. That is what we are seeking to implement in the Fair Entitlements Guarantee and in the particular regulation of which we are speaking tonight. There is nothing radical here. There is nothing to be concerned about, albeit dramatised by Senator Cameron and others

I was interested to hear Senator Rice's contribution in relation to alleged fuel subsidies. I thought we as a coalition—Senator Fifield—were interested in passing a fuel tax—