Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance) (14:11): I thank Senator Ludlam for that question. I am pleased to advise Senator Ludlam and the Senate that this government can walk and chew gum at the same time. This is a government which has a plan to build a stronger economy and create more jobs at the same time as being focused on repairing the budget mess that we inherited from our predecessors. This is a government which will have to fix the mess we inherited from the Labor-Green administration of the past three years on so many levels. When Labor went into government in December 2007, unemployment in Western Australia was 3.3 per cent. Unemployment today after the Labor-Green mining tax and the Labor-Green carbon tax is 5.9 per cent. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Cormann, resume your seat. You are entitled to be heard in silence. Those on my left will desist from interjecting. Senator CORMANN: The Labor-Green government in Canberra for the last six years tried to do to Western Australia what they had done to Tasmania for the last 16 years. Of course, this government here is totally committed to fixing the mess that the Labor Party and the Greens left to us. We will help Western Australia be more successful again by scrapping the mining tax, by scrapping the carbon tax and by cutting all the unnecessary red and green tape. Building a stronger economy will, among other things, generate more revenue for government, which— Senator Ludlam: Mr President, I rise on a point of order relating to relevance: I asked Senator Cormann very clearly whether he would debate the Greens and other candidates on jobs and the economy during the by-election. Is it a yes or no? The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order. The minister still has 29 seconds remaining. Senator CORMANN: Senator Ludlam asked me about jobs in Western Australia. What I said to him is that this government will build a stronger economy and create more jobs, whereas Labor and the Greens hit Western Australia for a six, costing jobs in Western Australia every single year that they were in government together.