House debates
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
Business
Suspension of Standing and Sessional Orders
12:02 pm
Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I seek leave to move the following motion:
That the House:
(1)notes that:
(a) the House of Representatives is in the extraordinary position of a Government having called a new session of Parliament only to run out of legislation to debate within 12 hours of the Governor-General opening a new session; and
(b) this is just more evidence that the Government has lost all interest in trying to govern, the only thing they are interested in is trying to stay in Government; and
(2) in the absence of any legislative agenda, suspend standing orders to accord priority over all other business at this sitting to the following motion to be moved immediately by the Leader of the Opposition: That the House calls on the Prime Minister to request His Excellency the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia issue Letters Patent to establish a Royal Commission to inquire into misconduct in the banking and financial services industry.
Leave not granted.
I move:
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition from moving the following motion forthwith:
That the House:
(1)notes that:
(a) the House of Representatives is in the extraordinary position of a Government having called a new session of Parliament only to run out of legislation to debate within 12 hours of the Governor-General opening a new session; and
(b) this is just more evidence that the Government has lost all interest in trying to govern, the only thing they are interested in is trying to stay in Government; and
(2) in the absence of any legislative agenda, suspend standing orders to accord priority over all other business at this sitting to the following motion to be moved immediately by the Leader of the Opposition: That the House calls on the Prime Minister to request His Excellency the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia issue Letters Patent to establish a Royal Commission to inquire into misconduct in the banking and financial services industry.
Why is the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, so determined to cover up for the banks—
12:05 pm
Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I move:
That the Member be no longer heard.
Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The question is that the Leader of the Opposition be no further heard.
12:15 pm
Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The government is paralysed but the parliament can issue it leave—what else can this parliament do? We have been called back, with no agenda and no legislation, and we are offering to provide some—to provide some legislation which will actually say that this parliament can lead where the government has failed!
And the government has failed every financial consumer in this country! The government has failed every person with a bank account in this country! The government has failed every victim of a financial scandal—
Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Well, the parliament can step in, and we are offering for the parliament to step in now. We are offering for the parliament to call a royal commission, which this Prime Minister and this Treasurer have abjectly failed to do—this Treasurer, whose great achievement is to defend $120 million worth of cuts to ASIC; this Treasurer, whose great achievement is to deny 41 warnings from ASIC that they needed more resources and more powers.
This is a government which completely ignores the wishes and completely ignores the needs of Australia's consumers. This is a government which completely ignores the evidence—
Mr Chester interjecting—
Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
that a royal commission is needed and is urgent. This is a government which is refusing to accept that the member for Gippsland's constituents and all the constituents of the members opposite absolutely want a royal commission into the banks. They absolutely want to see a government standing up for them. They actually want to see a government which is prepared to take a decision—not a decision to hold an advertising campaign, not a decision for spin but a decision for substance!
We are prepared to provide plenty of speakers for this motion. We are prepared to provide plenty of agenda, because we have a Leader of the House who is having a rostered week off—a rostered week off! We were called back for urgent business. We were called down to the other place yesterday and asked by His Excellency to deal with the registered organisations bill, which the Leader of the House has not even managed to bring in for debate!
Well, thank goodness the opposition is prepared to lead the debate. Thank goodness the opposition is prepared to come in and say, 'Well, if the government doesn't have any business, we have some.' Do you know what our business is, Mr Speaker? A royal commission into Australia's financial system. That is what our business is—a royal commission which will be held in public; a royal commission which, for the Treasurer's information, would have better and more powers than ASIC; a royal commission which would hear from victims; a royal commission which would recommend changes to whistleblowing laws; and a royal commission which could recommend changes to compensation. That is what the Australian people want their government to be doing. The government refuses, but the parliament is prepared to.
Or, at least, this side of the parliament is prepared to. We are prepared to have our names recorded in a few moments time as voting for a royal commission—
Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Help him out!
Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Give us another turn! There we go—like that one!
Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Those members opposite are apparently happy to have their names recorded as voting against a royal commission. Well, at least they are being told that is what they are going to do, even if they do not want to. I wonder how the debate went in the party room this morning about a royal commission? All those people who were lions in the party room a couple of hours ago: where are they in the parliament? Lions in the party room and mice in the parliament, not prepared to vote for a royal commission! Prepared behind closed doors to tell the Prime Minister that he is out of touch, but not prepared to stand up here for their constituents today.
We are prepared to stand up for them. We are prepared to stand up for a royal commission. Where is the National Party on the issue of a royal commission? Struck dumb in the House of Representatives! Not prepared to vote for it. Well, they are welcome to vote with us to send a message to His Excellency to call the royal commission now. The royal commission could get on with it. It does not have to wait for an incoming Shorten Labor government, it can be done today.
But if you fail, we will act. We will lead; we will have a royal commission because Australia needs one. Australia's banks need one and Australia's financial system needs one. Australia's financial system is not working in the best interests of every Australian consumer. It is not. This Treasurer might think it is and this Prime Minister might think it is—well, they are abjectly out of touch. They are abjectly out of touch with the views of Australia's financial consumers.
This opposition knows that as we provide an alternative we will lead. We will lead with the power of our ideas and policies, and we will set the agenda in this parliament—as they have singularly failed to do. What a joke for this parliament to be called back as a matter of great urgency—for the Prime Minister to stand outside and say it was so urgent for the parliament to come back and for us to end on Tuesday with a whimper, not only in this House but in the other house as well! Going home—Qantas and Virgin must be delighted! That is the only economic activity that is coming through—flights in and out of Canberra for a phantom sitting!
Well, how about a real royal commission? Not a phantom sitting of the House; a royal commission which would deal with Australia's financial system. (Time expired)
12:20 pm
Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Of course the government does not agree with the suspension of standing orders, because the government has a significant plan. I thought it was important to give the shadow Treasurer the opportunity to speak to the House at least one last time. I thought he was going to pop a muscle—pull a muscle or pop a hernia!
He always starts too high, Mr Speaker! He always starts too high and he does not know how to come off that crescendo! He has to build to the crescendo—you cannot start with the crescendo, because then how do you build to the crescendo? The poor old shadow Treasurer had to keep that up for five minutes—bellowing at the chamber, shouting at the viewer—and not one shred of substance in the entire five minutes. Not one shred of substance—
Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
At least he's a snappy dresser!
Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I can tell you, Derek Zoolander would not behave like that here! Derek Zoolander would be much calmer. And he certainly would not be wearing that tie-suit combination, I can tell you! He is a very snappy dresser, but he is not going to be a very good Treasurer because he will never get there. He makes a better shadow Treasurer.
Of course, the government has a very considered agenda and a very considered plan. In December, we announced the National Innovation and Science Agenda—24 measures costing $1.1 billion, which of course the member for Isaacs regards as a joke. But I can tell you that, in the start-up industry, in the business community, amongst the millions of people in Australia who work in the innovative industries, it was regarded as a very substantial breakthrough by the government, and the government is setting about implementing the 24 measures of the National Innovation and Science Agenda. In fact, the tax breaks for angel investors in start-ups have already been introduced into the House, as has the capital gains tax discount.
On the other side of the House, Labor want to increase the capital gains tax by 50 per cent. That is their policy. Now, we all know what you do when you want to discourage something: you increase the tax on it. For example, we have high taxes on tobacco because we want to discourage people from smoking. So the only possible construction you can place on the Labor Party's proposal to increase capital gains tax is that they want less investment, not more investment, in Australia.
By contrast, the government, through the National Innovation and Science Agenda, want to encourage more capital investment in Australia, and that is why we are exempting certain investments in start-up businesses from any capital gains tax at all for assets held for between three and 10 years. We want to encourage investment. Labor want to close down investment through increasing taxes.
But it has not been just the National Innovation and Science Agenda. Since the election of Prime Minister Turnbull, we have had an incredibly busy program of change in the country. We have democratised the Senate. We have put the power over individuals' votes back in their own hands by reforming the Senate voting system—a very significant reform to our democracy. We have introduced changes to media ownership laws in this country, an issue that was kicked into the long grass for decades, in spite of those laws being hopelessly out of date and not in the least bit prepared for a modern economy. We have reformed competition law in Australia through the effects test and the changes to section 46—a vitally important reform that supports small businesses against big businesses when they misuse their market power.
We have the competition law reform, we have the media ownership law reform, we have reformed the Senate and we have the National Innovation and Science Agenda. We have had the incredible announcements around the defence industry policy statement and the defence white paper. We have committed $30 billion to new defence spending, which was reduced by the Labor Party to its lowest level since 1939 as a percentage of GDP.
Mr Conroy interjecting—
Opposition members interjecting—
The defence industry policy statement, the defence white paper, creating jobs and creating growth: these are real decisions, real announcements that are changing our economy.
In a state like mine, South Australia, the defence industry is vitally important, and yesterday we announced the winner of the Pacific patrol vessel bids, which is Austal in Henderson. We have also announced that the 12 offshore patrol vessels will be built in Adelaide and then moved to Perth when the future frigates begin in 2020. Then of course there are the future frigates; we tightened up the process for that as well, by choosing the three designs from which the final frigates will be chosen. We have the submarines decision to come, but at least we have promised a commitment to 12 submarines.
In all the time that Labor were in government, six years, they never awarded one contract in Australia to build any ships at all, not one. Not one ship was built for the Navy in Australia under the Labor Party. They awarded contracts—the lowest funding since 1938—for shipbuilding but none of them for here in Australia. By the time the government are finished the continuous naval shipbuilding, we will have built 21 Pacific patrol boats, 12 offshore patrol vessels and nine future frigates, and we have a commitment to provide 12 submarines to the Navy. We are making a real difference in creating jobs. In Adelaide, in Cairns, through maintenance, in Perth and right around Australia, we are fulfilling the requirements of the Rand report on future naval shipbuilding in Australia and we are defending our country as a consequence.
So this government has an agenda, and it has a budget coming up on 3 May. On 3 May, the Treasurer will hand down his first but by no means his last budget. It will be his first but by no means his last budget. In this budget, the government will outline its agenda for the election campaign that will come at some stage this year. The government will outline to the people how we will, through our policies, repair the budget mess that was left to us by the Labor Party. Let us not forget that the high-taxing, high-spending Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government—
An opposition member: Where's the crescendo?
took over an economy with surplus budgets—
Opposition members interjecting—
Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Where's the crescendo? Build it up, Chris, build it up! Where's the crescendo?
Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
You need to calm down there, Nick! Calm down there, Nick!
Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Calm down. You look like you're whipping yourselves in a horserace over there! You've got to stop that! You've got to calm down! They took over a budget that had a surplus, that had assets in the bank, that had no net government debt—none—and they turned that around in six years into a massive government debt and a massive deficit, and they sold off most of the assets. Many people have forgotten. The Higher Education Endowment Fund, the health fund, the communications fund: Labor gave all of those things away while they were in government, in their profligate spending spree.
In this budget we will see how a considered and calm government goes about doing the job that we are elected to do. We will repair the budget mess left to us by the Labor Party. We will announce reforms in areas of the tax system where it is important to have reform. We will make sure that we deliver the spending measures that are vital to a growing economy, whether it is in infrastructure, whether it is in northern Australia, whether it is in the defence industry, whether it is in health or education investments.
Mr Conroy interjecting—
I oppose the motion.
Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The time allotted for the debate—
Mr Bowen interjecting—
The member for McMahon will cease interjecting.
Mr Bowen interjecting—
The member for McMahon is warned! The time allotted for the debate has concluded. The question now is that the motion be agreed to. A division is required. In accordance with standing order 133(c), the division is deferred until the conclusion of the discussion of the matter of public importance.
Debate adjourned.
Just before I call the member for Grayndler, there were some loud interjections obviously through that debate. I think the member for Charlton was repeatedly using an unparliamentary term and I would ask him to withdraw if that was the case.
Pat ConroyTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I thank the member for Charlton. Member for Grayndler?