Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion, and I want to indicate to the House that I've agreed to give up some of my time to Mr Wilkie so he can make a contribution on behalf of the crossbench. This motion is one about ministerial responsibility. It's about time this Deputy Prime Minister started to take some responsibility for his own action, or inaction. When he was caught out doctoring his Hansard, it was the fault of his staff. When his departmental secretary tried to stand up for the staff—well, we know the history there: he was gone. When he couldn't answer a question on Channel Ten's The Project, he first blamed the person doing the interview, and then, when that didn't work, he blamed his media adviser. Do we remember the hashtag #PrayForJake? When he wouldn't move on the white spot outbreak in the prawn sector, it was the Queensland government's fault. When he introduced a backpacker tax for the first time, it was the Labor Party's fault—

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