Senator ABETZ (Tasmania—Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Minister for Employment) (14:59): Mr President, what may or may not have been said in the Liberal Party room—or the coalition party room—is undoubtedly of tantalising interest to the honourable senator. But I am not going to either confirm or deny what those matters may or may not be. The simple fact is that we as a government are prepared to have a look at the taxation challenges that the nation faces. That is why we are having this taxation white paper. We have also said, in that context, that in relation to the GST specifically, it is an agreement between the states and the Commonwealth that requires each and every signatory to agree to a change. Therefore it stands to reason that any change in that arrangement will only occur, and can only occur, if each and every state signs onto it. Therefore, it stands to reason that the home state of Senator Bilyk—that happens to be my own home state and, indeed, yours, Mr President—would only sign onto such an arrangement if it believed that it was in the interests of the people of Tasmania. What is more, since the election of the Hodgman Liberal government in Tasmania, Tasmanians can be absolutely— Senator Moore: I rise on a point of order. While, naturally, the minister has been relevant to the general question, the final question was specifically: would the government allow coalition members and senators to make submissions to the white paper inquiry? That was, in fact, the only real question. The PRESIDENT: I note, though, that the question went to matters that did not pertain to the minister's portfolio—namely the coalition party room. I allowed the question to stand. Ordinarily that would have been out of order. The minister has been answering the question. He has 32 seconds left to answer the question. Senator ABETZ: As I was saying, the people of Tasmania can be assured that with the election of a Hodgman Liberal government, their interests will be so much more protected than they used to be under the previous Labor-Green government that wrecked the Tasmanian economy and saw Tasmania top the charts in all the wrong ways—high unemployment, recession, the highest rate of debt, the lowest rate of education. On all those factors, it was a failure. Tasmania will be looked after.