Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is right. I am known for pleasing people with my speeches. Anyway, 'So far, so good.' That is how the Prime Minister judges his own year. Look, let us be perfectly and utterly honest about it in this great appropriations debate. We are here and the government has got nothing to say in the Senate. They have got barely any legislation in the House. They are clinging to a compromise on same-sex marriage which pleases nobody, because, at the end of the day, when the Australian people actually vote for it, the government will not be such fans of the plebiscite then. They will want to come back here and have a parliamentary vote. That will destroy the Prime Minister's government. Talk about 'be careful what you wish for'. If they get the plebiscite, it will be Malcolm Turnbull's Brexit moment. If they test this question with all of its consequences for the Australian people out there, he will then face an affirmative vote and he will have to come back in here and legislate it.

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