Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister update the house on Australia’s readiness to respond to emergencies in our region? Are there any proposals to change this approach? What is the government’s response?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I know that at the next election he has a trade union official running against him for the Labor Party, and that, I guess, will not come as any surprise to anybody in this House. I think it is fair to say that Australia has an unparalleled record in responding—

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Brendan O’Connor interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton is warned!

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to disasters. Our defence forces, police, aid workers and consular officials are recognised across the Asia-Pacific region as being decisive, professional and compassionate. In April 2007, when the tsunami struck the Solomon Islands and displaced 36,000 people, Australia immediately sent a C130 aircraft, medical supplies, health workers, water, blankets and tents. In May 2006, when the Jogjakarta earthquake struck, we sent surgeons, nurses and other workers, as well as tonnes and tonnes of equipment, to assist. After the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, Australia’s response, coordinated with the United States and Japan, I think could only be described as outstanding, as magnificent.

What is impressive is not just the capabilities but the way our agencies are so well coordinated. That is why it comes as a surprise to me, when we have a system which is admired around the world, that the Leader of the Opposition apparently has an alternative policy. It not being sufficient for him to congratulate all of those people who work in this area for the outstanding work they do, he announced in January the establishment of a regional disaster management coordination authority to coordinate national defence and emergency responses—which are extremely well coordinated and work with exceptional efficiency.

The Leader of the Opposition—and this is characteristic of him—wants a stunt. He wants something to say. He wants to get a run in the media. So what does he do? He says that he would establish an authority. Let it be repeated that this particular stunt adds to the 67 new departments, committees, boards and councils that the Leader of the Opposition wants to establish, which is on top of the 96 bureaucratic audits and reviews. In all of that, there will be many, many jobs for trade union officials, which, presumably, is the real objective of the exercise over and above the stunt that it involves.

This is characteristic of what we are seeing from the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition is not about substance; he is about stunts. I do not think there is any debate about that. He says he wants to have three debates with the Prime Minister, including one on YouTube. We have four days this week in our national parliament—the most important democratic institution in this country. We have gone past 1½ days, and the Leader of the Opposition has so far not proposed any debate in our national parliament whatsoever. Of course, he can ask questions; he can move a censure motion; and he can have MPIs; but there is no debate from the Leader of the Opposition—just on YouTube. YouTube is more important to the Leader of the Opposition than our national parliament.

A lot of this comes from California, and America generally. We have Kevin07 replacing Obama’08. That is where that idea came from. I noticed on the weekend—and I think many of you would have—the ‘New Leadership’ slogan. I thought I had seen that somewhere before. Some honourable members might remember in 1984, in the US presidential election, that Walter Mondale ran ‘New Leadership’ against Ronald Reagan. That was it—Walter Mondale. That is where the idea comes from. We are California-ising—to avoid the wrong word there—Australian politics on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition.

Government in Australia is actually about decisions and substance, not stunts. The Leader of the Opposition offers the Australian public nothing more but phoney stunts, and I think in time the public will become only too aware of it.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.