Senator Eric Abetz

Following Andrew Wilkie’s withdrawal of support for the Green Labor Government, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Senator Eric Abetz said Mr Wilkie now understood how millions of Australians felt.

Today Mr Wilkie said ‘We should be able to trust our politicians to keep their word’ and ‘Frankly a deal is a deal’.

“Mr Wilkie now understands the feeling deep betrayal felt by Australians as they watched Julia Gillard implement a carbon tax after promising that there would be ‘no carbon tax under any government I lead’,” Senator Abetz said today.

“Mr Wilkie is right – people do expect political leaders to keep their word. Ms Gillard betrayed Mr Wilkie on pokies but she betrayed an entire nation on the carbon tax,” Senator Abetz concluded.