Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to have a discussion about Labor's robodebt scheme. I welcome the opportunity to actually address the truth about this important issue and the legacy originating back to the very member who complained about it just now in this chamber. The reality is that this system was introduced by the Labor Party. This is one of the great untruths that sits at the heart of this discussion, in the member for Maribyrnong's regular commentary in the public square and in his constant effort to distance himself from the legacy of the scheme that he introduced, and then to hold this government to account rather than take a modicum of responsibility.

There is no better example of this than the recent interview the member for Maribyrnong had with Patricia Karvelas on ABC Radio. I'm going to try and do my best Patricia Karvelas impersonation—and perhaps even my best member-for-Maribyrnong impersonation, but I'm not so rehearsed:

KARVELAS: You've spoken today about how much harm this program has done. Do you regret creating it and do you regret not opposing it before the election?

SHORTEN: Oh, Patricia, Patricia!

KARVELAS: That's a reasonable question, Labor created—

SHORTEN: Labor didn't create—

KARVELAS: No, Labor did create robodebt.

SHORTEN: No, well—

KARVELAS: I know; I've watched it. It did.

When you've got the ABC calling out the member for Maribyrnong for dishonesty and for misleading the public, and then he comes and does it inside the parliament as well, you've got to wonder what the basis of their argument is beyond them wanting to distract. For him to come up to the dispatch box to audition for a rehearsal for taking on the lead role—that is the reality of what we've seen today.

I'm actually surprised the Leader of the Opposition allowed this MPI to be moved, because it gave the member for Maribyrnong an opportunity to come up to the dispatch box and show that he could at least cobble together a coherent sentence and that he is actually capable of prosecuting an argument. I don't agree he should be in that job either, but you've got to pay deference where it's due and acknowledge talent where it's due. What's really clear is that he hasn't changed his mindset from the election. He went to the last election with a platform saying that we needed more than $387 billion of new taxes imposed on Australian taxpayers. What he doesn't seem to have any regard for is the $180 billion that's paid out, by Australian taxpayers, for a degree of social equity to help those people in need. He is not interested in following up or making sure that that money is spent, or, if there is an inappropriate allocation, recovering that money for taxpayers. He'd rather just go and hit people's hip pockets again and again and again. That's the legacy.

The really tragic part of this motion today is the stories that sit behind it of what happens when people have a problem. The reality is that people did have a problem with the system—and there were people who did. They came into the Goldstein electorate office, and we sat down, worked through the issues, contacted Centrelink, worked through the department and got as best a resolution as possible. What we did was actually try to solve people's problems. Sometimes it didn't happen as quickly as we wanted, but we got to where we needed to go in every case. Compare that to what Labor members did when a person who had a problem with the system came to them for help. Their first response wasn't: 'How can we help? Can we contact the department? Can we solve a problem?' Their first response every single time was: 'You've got a problem? How would you like to go and talk to the media about it?' What they did was use vulnerable people as puppets for their nefarious political agenda to get at the government. That is the most low-down, despicable act anybody can engage in. That is disgraceful behaviour—using people as human fodder and pawns in their despicable political games to fight their own scheme. That's why people on this side of the chamber have no regard or respect for their narrative and no regard for the dishonesty that they bring into this place. That's why, at every point, the Australian people see through the charade of the opposition and the agenda that they raise. That's why we will continue to fight, because we are not only fighting for the people who need assistance and support, who are vulnerable and who we make sure we give assistance to when they need it; we're also fighting for the Australian taxpayers and public, who they have no regard for and take no interest in.

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