Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This matter of public importance is so important to the opposition that they've got four people in the chamber. The actual mover of the motion, the shadow Treasurer, hasn't got the grace to stay here to listen to the speeches of his own side, let alone of the government. That's why it's so important. And the previous speaker, the member Petrie, spent half the time talking about the referendum and not about the cost of living. But, if you listen to the shadow Treasurer, his answer to the cost-of-living issues, which are really affecting Australians, is nuclear power and attack the trade unions. Those were the two things he talked about to relieve cost-of-living pressures.

The reality is that this particular government is doing everything it possibly can to improve the lives of Australian people, and those opposite keep voting against it in this place. They've got political amnesia. They keep forgetting the votes that they cast in this place. Again and again they vote no to cost-of-living relief. Honestly, when it comes to the legislation that we're bringing to this place, those opposite keep forgetting. When it came to electricity price relief, they sat there all afternoon and voted no again and again. When it came to cheaper child care, they opposed it. They voted no. They didn't support it either. When it came to increased rent assistance, they opposed it. When it came to more Medicare bulk-billing, they said it was a waste of money and they opposed it. When it came to cheaper medicines, the 60-day scripts, they opposed it. When it came to fee-free TAFE, they opposed that again. They opposed again and again all the efforts we've made to help people.

They opposed affordable housing. They opposed the Housing Australia Future Fund. They opposed, once again, expanding paid parental leave. They also opposed creating jobs and getting wages moving. Remember when the Prime Minister, then the opposition leader, had a dollar coin in his hand? They thought the economy would collapse if you increased the minimum wage. They opposed extra wages for those working in the aged-care sector. They opposed extra wages for those working in the childcare sector. And then they come into this place and move this motion.

Honestly, it is completely at odds with their own actions. I thought their parents would have taught them something: actually, you do what you say you're going to do. That's what we're doing. Those opposite say one thing and do another. Again, again and again they've voted against it. The political amnesia of the coalition—they also forget that they were in government for about nine years, nearly 10 years. They've forgotten that. All of a sudden, everything that they did over here is something in political history that happened at the turn of the last century, or the century before that. They keep forgetting about it.

What about energy price relief and the 22 policies they tried to land? Some of those things, like the NEG, didn't last from the party room to question time. That's how hopeless they were when it came to that. All of a sudden the answer is nuclear. I'll look forward to putting a nuclear power plant at Redcliffe, for the member for Petrie—he must think that's a good idea—or on the Brisbane River or the Bremer River. How about we put it at Wivenhoe Dam, if you believe in nuclear power? I bet you won't do that. You will not do that, because it's all about what you say and not what you do.

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