Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

That is $50 billion of promises in a blog, and they have already got a $70 billion dollar black hole. It is no wonder they do not want to discuss the issues of substance. That is why they try to suspend standing orders every day. They come in here, but they do not put any time or effort into their questions in question time. There is no probing of the government as to the policies of the day. There is no probing of the implications behind, for example, the safe rates legislation, which they say is so terrible. There are no questions about the detail of that legislation because they are simply not interested in it. What we saw them doing last Thursday is a new thing. Not only do they waste time with the suspension of standing orders, they now waste time bobbing up like Jack and Jill up the back there giving five-minute grabs so that they avoid voting on legislation and avoid going down on that legislation.

This is a good day for the parliament. We had safe rates carried by this House and the MRRT will be carried by the other house. That is why we should not waste time with a suspension of standing orders. They do not talk about why standing orders should be suspended, but they put a whole lot of slurs out against members of parliament, statutory authorities and anyone else who stands in their way. We on this side want to talk about our plans for enhancing opportunities for nation building, for returning the budget to surplus and our positive vision for the future. That is what we are focused on and that is what this parliament should be focused on. It should not be focused on the longest dummy spit in Australian political history, which we are seeing from those opposite. It is no wonder when you see the sorts of performances from those opposite that people know in their guts that he is nuts. That is what they know, because those opposite just engage in relentless negativity day after day.

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