Eric Abetz

The youngest of six children, Abetz emigrated from Germany to Australia with his parents in 1961.[3] His father, a radio technician, came to Australia to work for Tasmania's Hydro Electric Commission, which had advertised for skilled workers in German newspapers.[4] Another one of the Abetz children is Peter Abetz, who was the Liberal member for Southern River in the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from the 2008 state election until 2017. Eric Abetz's great uncle, Otto Abetz, was a Nazi SS officer, German ambassador to Vichy France, and a convicted war criminal.[5]

Abetz married Michelle Oates in 1991, and they had three children.[6] His wife died of cancer in 2019. He is a Christian.[7]

Abetz studied at Taroona High School, Hobart Matriculation College and the University of Tasmania, earning degrees in law and arts in 1981. He served as President of the University of Tasmania Liberal Club,[8] and in 1980–1981, he became the first Tasmanian to become national president of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation, during which time he came into political conflict with Nick Sherry and Sue Mackay, both later to be Australian Labor Party senators.[4]

He won preselection as a candidate for the Senate in the 1993 election but did not win a seat. He was then chosen to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Brian Archer in 1994, and was elected in his own right at the subsequent 1998 election and re-elected in 2004 and 2010. Abetz was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence 1998–2001 and was Special Minister of State from January 2001 until 2006.

Abetz earlier in his political career.

He has served as Chairman of the Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund Committee and Chairman of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Attorney-General and Justice Government Members' Committee.[9]

He was a member of a Parliamentary Delegation which visited France and Belgium in June and July 1997, and made an official visit to the United Kingdom in September 1999.[10]

He was Minister for Forestry from a reshuffle of the Howard ministry in January 2006 until its defeat at the 2007 election. He commenced his portfolio by attacking the Australian Greens and environmentalists in general as anti-Australian. He described the campaign against woodchipping as "akin to treason" and branded the Greens an "extreme left" party.[11] This allowed him to position the government's priorities as mainstream issues which both major parties wanted action on.[12]

In September 2013 Abetz was appointed Minister for Employment in the Abbott Government and oversaw the drafting of legislation to reestablish the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the establishment of a Registered Organisations Commission following the Craig Thomson Affair, and the launching of the Royal Commission into trade union governance and corruption and Fair Work Act Review. Abetz also designed and implemented the Government's Jobactive Employment Services Reforms.

Abetz is a Christian and a member of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia. Throughout his political career he has been variously associated with conservative groups, including the Association of Christian Parent Controlled Schools, Salt Shakers, Focus on the Family, Lyons Forum, Endeavour Forum, Family Council of Victoria, Fatherhood Foundation, Australian Christian Lobby, Australian Family Association and Right to Life Australia.[13] Abetz is an opponent of same-sex marriage, and in a 2015 interview on 2UE said arguments comparing discrimination against mixed-race couples to same-sex couples were "completely debunked by Justice Clarence Thomas, the negro American on the Supreme Court".[14]

It was reported in May 2015 that Abetz was quoted as saying of Joe de Bruyn, National President of Labor's largest trade union, "he is a role model of trade union officialdom. He is the type of official that gives trade unionism a good name." De Bruyn spent 36 years as National Secretary of the SDA, known for its very close relationships with major employers such as Coles and Woolworths, as well his staunch and vocal opposition to same sex marriage.[15]

In August 2014 Abetz received criticism from the media and politicians such as Greens Adam Bandt for making claims of a link between abortion and breast cancer when appearing on The Project. He had been on The Project to discuss his association with the World Congress of Families.[16]

• Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Eric Abetz on TheyVoteForYou.org.au