Senator Eric Abetz

Julia Gillard’s reshuffle following the retirement of Tasmanian Senator, Senator Nick Sherry means that Tasmania now has no Labor Senator representing Tasmania in a senior role.

“This is a vote of no confidence by Julia Gillard in the Tasmanian Labor Senate Team,” Senator Abetz said today.

“With Nick Sherry going, Senator Carol Brown now has the most senior position as deputy whip.”

“Labor is either taking the Tasmanian electorate for granted or Canberra has no confidence that its representatives in the Senate are of Ministerial standard. Either way it’s not a good look for Labor.”

“I wish Senator Sherry well in his retirement from politics; despite being on the other side of the political fence I have always held him in high regard.”

“The appointment today of Julie Collins to the Labor Ministry and Sid Sidebottom as a Parliamentary Secretary reinforces the neglect Labor has had for the of the people of Tasmania,” Senator Abetz said.

“In the meantime the Tasmanian Liberals are putting high quality candidates like Eric Hutchinson (Lyons) and Andrew Nikolic (Bass) into the field. The Tasmania Package for the next election is also being developed with heavy input from the membership.”

“Tasmanians are growing sick and tired of dysfunctional Green-ALP governments in Hobart and Canberra. They feel cheated and betrayed by the ALP making promises of no-deals with the Greens and of “No Carbon Tax” and “No gay marriage” just to see them all broken.”

“Re-arranging the deck chairs doesn’t change the direction of the boat.”

“This reshuffle does nothing to strengthen the Australian economy, reduce the cost of living pressures on Australian families and stop the boats.”

“All it does is shore up the Prime Minister’s position, but with Kevin Rudd still in the Cabinet and poisoning the Government, Labor remains divided and dysfunctional.”

“We need a change in policy not just different faces with these same policies. The policies are the problem,” Senator Abetz said.