Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I must confess that this resolution completely and utterly perplexed me. After the census fail, after the ATO website was down today, after the Centrelink robo-debt fiasco, after concerns have emerged about the CSA's IT system, the member for Fairfax moved 'to congratulate the government for pursuing an extensive technology reform agenda that will change the way Australians interact with government services for the better'. Seriously! My question to the Deputy Speaker is, is there a provision in the standing orders for either irony or grand self-delusion? Because that is the only way this resolution can be debated here now. You cannot be serious! It is such a bizarre resolution.

I want to make these two points. First: the mover of the resolution retreated. He is not even here to listen to the debate. He left straight away. The member for Mackellar, who, in his Young Liberal days, was widely regarded as a very smart operator, in a lapse spoke on this motion but in a recovery also retreated. He was not here either to finish it off. What was also interesting is that I am now speaking after my good friend and colleague, the member for Burt, when another government member should be speaking, but they are not. Because they have heeded the wise words—I love that HBO show, Silicon Valley, where Erlich Bachman said, 'Don't touch anything—failure is contagious.' This is why they have no other speaker in relation to this resolution.

The member for Mackellar, in his defence of the federal government, opened by relying on what the New South Wales government is doing on digital transformation. Successes on the digital transformation front are so sparse and unavailable that he had to quote another Liberal government because, as I said, 'Don't touch anything. Failure is contagious. Don't mention the federal government.' That was interesting.

Do you know who else is missing? The Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, Angus Taylor.

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