Michael Hatton (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, if you want me to I will return to why many government members are not speaking on the Private Health Insurance Bill 2006 and are not supporting the government’s substantial legislation in this regard. It is an observation that goes to whether or not this government and its members are committed to supporting the legislation.

With regard to legislation after legislation that I have dealt with, it is the Labor Party people who keep the argument going and who do the debating in this chamber. We keep the parliament alive and we have demonstrated, on this bill and on others, that we are willing to take up the nitty-gritty of these subjects and to debate them—and to do it at length and do it well. The government is sitting on its hands. You cannot just rely on ministers, parliamentary secretaries and a couple of other people to front up and give it a tick. This has to be worked at. It is a demonstration that this government is out of puff. Despite the fact of some of the good work—like this—that has been done in this area by the people in the departments, this government is out of puff. (Time expired)

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