Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Perhaps the appropriate response to that explanation is, ‘Yes, Minister.’ In all seriousness, I think it is totally unacceptable to publish a table which purports to provide a comparison of staff positions for this year and next year which you have now informed the House is meaningless. It is; it is meaningless. You cannot draw any comparison. I cannot believe that this could be presented in a budget document. What confidence do we have in any of the rest of it? The whole thing is useless, meaningless. I am wasting my time here tonight.

I have come along to find out some facts only to find that there are some very serious initiatives that have been put on the table in the last three weeks that are of great consequence to Australia and the region—initiatives that have potentially enormous costs if they are to be done properly and if we are to ensure that we are not turned into a laughing stock as a country because of the inadequacy of the preparation, the diplomacy that has to be carried out and all the rest of it—and we do not even know what has happened with staff numbers across the department. I cannot trust any of this document now if I want know the resources that are devoted to the diplomatic effort over the next three or four years. It is just unacceptable—totally unacceptable. I am wasting my time.

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