Senator Eric Abetz

Senator Abetz: Good morning, a number of issues today. First of all the Carbon TAX. Every single Labor Member of the House of Representatives was elected on a policy of NO Carbon TAX. Today they have the opportunity of restoring the faith of the electorate. If they go against that which they promised to the electorate the electorate is entitled to judge them and judge them exceptionally harshly. In relation to the two country Independents. Independents are elected on the basis of, one, that they will always represent their electorates' wishes, and two, to keep the Government honest. I would still appeal at this late stage to Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott and invite them to consider those two propositions. What do their electorates want them to do? Their electorates want them to vote against the Carbon TAX. Their electorates also want them to keep the Government honest and the Government said NO Carbon TAX. So those two Independents have a very real task today to ensure that they live up to the expectations of their electorates.

"Labor has contemptuously betrayed the people of Tasmania." 

"Today in the House of Representatives we witnessed Labor's Tasmanian representatives shamelessly betraying the Tasmanian people who elected them to the Parliament to represent their views by voting to support Bob Brown's job destroying Carbon TAX," Senator Abetz said today.

"Julia Gillard sees her own survival as more important than the survival of the Building and Construction Industry as Labor moves to kill off the Australian Building and Construction Commission," Senator Abetz said today.

"In a desperate attempt to placate the Labor Left and shore up support from the powerbrokers at the CFMEU, Julia Gillard is opening the door to the extreme militant elements of the unions."

Senator Abetz: Good morning, we start another week of the Federal Parliament. A lot of issues for the Government to confront. The so called Malaysian solution, the Carbon TAX are all issues where the Government is not doing that which the Australian people would want them to do. We in the Coalition will be ensuring that the people's voices are heard loud and clear. Whether that means we actually win votes in the Parliament or not is another matter but we will be giving expression to the clear voice of the Australian people which is they don't want a Carbon TAX and they do want our borders secured but not through this ham-fisted approach of the Malaysian solution.