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

And here we have the lobotomised zombie continuing with interjections, in circumstances where we listened to his drivel in silence—

Senator Pratt interjecting—

The Labor Party are continuing to interject. They assert that somehow we are the bullies, yet their behaviour clearly displays how they behave—not only in this place but, of course, even more so, behind closed doors.

The simple fact is that every party, from time to time, has its difficulties. Today, for us, it was the Liberal member for Chisholm. But a member who rejoices in the surname of Husic might bring the Labor Party back to the ground. We all have these situations.

And do you know what? The Australian people aren't actually interested. What they are interested in is: who has created employment and opportunity?

So, when Senator Cameron talks about the Liberals putting a wrecking ball through decency, is he talking about the 1.1 million Australians who have been taken off the scrap heap of unemployment and placed into the opportunities that are provided by employment? The Labor Party are silent. They cannot believe that, on that which we promised in 2013, which they laughed at, which they scorned, which they ridiculed—that we would create, within the first five years, one million jobs—we came in earlier than the five years with those one million jobs. Why? Because we created the economic certainty—something that the Australian Labor Party could never do.

In my own home state, 8.1 per cent was the unemployment rate when Mr Shorten was finally dismissed as the minister for so-called employment and workplace relations, in the then Rudd government, by the people of Australia—8.1 per cent. Today, it is well below six per cent, if I've got it correct, at 5.6 per cent. That is a transformation for thousands of my fellow Tasmanians who today have a job.

Today, we have fewer people dependent on welfare than we've had for, I think, about 25 years. That is transformational. That is what true decency in a society is all about. It's not all the hyperbole and socialist rhetoric; it is the delivering of jobs—the providing of certainty and capacity to individuals to run their own lives. That is what we concentrate on whilst the Australian Labor Party play their games.

What other things have we done? We've not only created these job opportunities; we've also ensured, for example, that, on the migration front, we have rejected the UN compact on migration. Where does Labor stand on that?

We have rejected paying $400 million to the International Climate Fund. Where does Labor stand on that—more indebtedness to an International Climate Fund? And where would we be borrowing the money from? Undoubtedly, from China. Who wants to reach into this International Climate Fund? China. So we'd borrow money from China to pay into the climate fund, so that they can get it, so we can then repay China, with interest. This is the ALP economic model. And so the list goes on.

That is why, whilst there may have been some untidiness on the government's side—as there has been on the opposition's side—what I would say to my fellow Australians is: don't judge the Labor Party on their rhetoric; judge them on their record. Judge us on our record, and the 1.1 million jobs speak for themselves.