Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable the Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

Dysfunction in the Government.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Some days are more interesting than others in this place, but it is going to take a most interesting day to top the last hour and a half. We all heard it: that thudding noise as Malcolm Turnbull threw Tony Abbott under the bus. The current Liberal Prime Minister, defending the ministers for justice and immigration in answering the question 'Was he was satisfied about whose version was correct?' said, 'I am satisfied in my ministers for immigration and justice.' And then, as question time finished and we were still gasping at the current Prime Minister throwing the previous Prime Minister under the bus, the previous Prime Minister stood up and threw his current boss under the bus. All bets are off over there in this government! When we drafted this MPI saying that the government are not united, I never thought that they would be the first speakers in the MPI!

This Prime Minister promised stable government, but you could tell he just could not wait to rip Tony Abbott a new one. Stable government is a second-order issue—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. I am not going to keep endlessly making the point that members need to refer to other members by their correct titles. It applies to every member in this House, including the Leader of the Opposition, whom I suspect I have reminded more than most.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This Liberal civil war is so confusing and distracting, isn't it?

This was going to be the week. This was to be the Prime Minister's moment in the sun. You can just picture him on Sunday, all those long, 96 hours ago. He was back in the Lodge, luggage in the luggage lift, out there checking the letterbox to see if there was a postcard from Wyatt Roy—'Wish you were here.' 'No, you don't!'

Then we had the artful Arthur, Senator Sinodinos, popping his head around: 'Great news from the front, sire! We've had a win in the ACT.' 'Really?'—he heads out of the luggage lift—'What is the news? Did we win?' the Prime Minister says. 'Oh, no, no, no. It's much better than that! There's going to be some new trams to take selfies on!'

Then, of course, there is the friendly lunch with the focus group. What is on the menu? I would like to tell you but we found out in estimates this week that the Prime Minister's meals are classified. Who would have thought it was truffles with a sauce of national security?

Anyway, he is laying out the orange tie, ready for the renaissance week, the marquee week. A government was going to finally put to rest its reputation for dithering, disunity and dysfunction. He was the real Prime Minister—no more weakness, no more indecision. It was a new dawn, the third coming of Malcolm. But four days later where are we back to?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition!

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a split in the coalition, an insurgent member for Warringah. And what was that unfamiliar noise we heard of drumming on the backbench?

Opposition members: They're alive!

They're alive! They really do exist! Some might say I am being too hard on this government, but—

Opposition members: No!

True! But making history in a few days is not as easy as it looks. This is the first government since Menzies to lose a majority in the House, the first government to ever vote against itself—and then call upon itself to explain its failings. And then we got an insight. Those opposite agreed to call upon their failings and explain themselves, and now I realise what it meant: that is what it feels like to be in a Liberal caucus meeting every Tuesday.

Of course, then they gagged their own double dissolution triggers—as you do. It was the master stroke and they did not want the chamber to consider it. And after the longest election called in 50 years we have been given the shortest time in parliament to deal with the most important issue in the nation—according to the government.

But the good news is, I can report to the people of Australia, that the Liberal Party have not lost their sense of humour. They got the member for Fadden to ask a question about the rule of law!

Then, of course, they got so bad at communicating their message that yesterday they got the Minister for Trade up. He was talking in morse code—'R2-D2 Ciobo' kept beeping away at the box. But when there is this chaos, who do they call?

Ms Henderson interjecting—

They do not call you, Corangamite.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will refer to members by their correct titles.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay: 'current member for Corangamite, temporarily'. It is only natural. When there is a problem, who do they call for? They call for the Leader of the House, or, as he prefers to be known, 'the equally senior co-convener of Defence'—so long as the Minister for Defence is not in the room and can hear him. Of course, when the parliament is falling apart, they come up with a fix! Is their fix in parliament something as simple as saying, 'Yeah, you've got be here until the end of parliament'? No. Is it something as easy as saying, 'Check what you are voting on before you vote'? Instead, it is, 'Innovative, agile electronic voting.'

Electronic voting, that is going to fix it all! I can just see how electronic voting will go with this mob: the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, gearing up to condemn herself. You can hear Siri saying, 'Don't do that!' Remember when the member for Wentworth invented the Internet, there was a little paperclip they had Microsoft Word! You can just see it saying, 'It looks like you are trying to be a minister. Do you need help?' Then there is the other place, where there is estimates. I want to give a shout out to Senator Penny Wong. I do not know how she does it. A five-hour conversation with the Attorney-General and the congeniality twins, Senator O'Sullivan and Senator Macdonald! Two men ready for the dawn of the 20th century!

Of course, satin George always brings us in with the news. In the final hours before caretaker kicked in, Senator Brandis made 37 appointments to the AAT. Those are jobs that pay a salary of up to $370,000. Let me save you doing the maths: $13.7 million, almost seven times what the Prime Minister donated to his own survival. No positions were advised, no department advice was provided and no-one has checked for the conflicts of interest. Although, the good news is: we do not know if they are qualified, we do not know if they are comprised and we do not know if they have got the job on merit, but they may well be up to being Attorney-General in this government!

Unfortunately, we see that under this government—whilst they are good at job-creating for their own donors and supporters—too many Australians, as we have learnt today, are missing out. We have seen that tens of thousands of full-time jobs are going in this country. The only thing Australians have got consoled themselves with is this mob opposite us. This week, the government did cross a serious line by talking about tampering with a 20-year bipartisan commitment to a safer Australia, dishonouring the legacy of John Howard and disregarding the warnings we tragically see from the United States so frequently. Do they really think that their anti-union, anti-worker, anti-fairness agenda is worth more than changing the rules around lever-action weapons on the streets? They are not fit to be the government.

Then they get caught in that farrago of lies. Clearly, the former Prime Minister has educated us today and, whilst he was having a go at the opposition, we know his real target was the Prime Minister. He said there were no deals done, yet what we see clearly is the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, in written correspondence, offering Senator Leyonhjelm—in return for their vote on other matters—changes to the rules around these lever-action shotguns. When the Prime Minister has a choice between—

Mr Keenan interjecting—

I think you have said enough for today, Minister for Justice! You saw the Prime Minister: he had a choice to backup the member for Warringah, but the member for Wentworth is so consumed by his dislike and his disregard for the member for Warringah that he is happy to buttress these incompetents in their current jobs when they have been caught out dealing votes for guns. Australians do not want this horsetrading; they do not want this horsetrading on things as fundamental as their gun laws. Can we find out from the government what they actually think about the gun laws and where they should be? Any number of times this week we have invited our Prime Minister to inform us and to tell us what he is doing in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police advice. These are the questions which those opposite must answer.

But the real lesson we have learnt this week is that this government and this Prime Minister are so weak, so pathetic and so desperate that any group of bullies can tweak the Prime Minister's tail and any group insurgents can stand him up. The one thing we have learnt about the member for Wentworth in just over a year of his stewardship of this nation is that he will sell out his principles, he will sell out his previous positions and he will do anything to keep his job. Tragically, this nation may well have another two years of this weak leadership. But we promise the people of Australia that we will call out the weakness, the lack of conscience and the mercenary nature of doing deals, votes for guns and the like. We will never stops standing up to a weak, rotten government.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the motion and note—

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The MPI.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The MPI, I should say. Thank you, Shadow Treasurer. I note that for 23 years in Western Sydney, I was in hotels across Western Sydney and dealt with guns, dealt with bikies and dealt with drugs.

Opposition members interjecting—

Laugh, laugh, those opposite! It is not fun. A 21 years of age, I kicked in my first toilet door to pull a 21-year-old young bloke with a needle in his arm out and attempted to revive him. I failed. I have seen the scourge of drugs in real life on the front lines. It was one of the key motivations when, five years ago, I joined the Liberal Party. In the last term of that Labor government, they used the AFP as something they could continually cut funding and resources from. You had that crazy situation.

The Leader of the Opposition runs out of the chamber! The irony of this week is that the Leader of the Opposition is using guns to hide behind. For six years, he had every chance to stand up. The member for Blaxland was the minister responsible. I felt sorry for him, because in Regents Park, where my family owned the Regents Park Hotel, was the biggest ever stash of methamphetamines. It was in his electorate whilst he was the minister. Why? Because under them, the resources cut to the AFP were at record levels.

They were under 10 per cent of containers coming to this country—which contained all of our mail, by the way—that were checked. You heard the Prime Minister stand up in this place earlier in the week and talk about the member for Cook and the 220 Glocks that were found in a post-office box in his electorate. The safest way that organised criminals had under the Labor Party to get guns into this country was the genius idea of mailing the guns to themselves. The Glocks got through. Those opposite go quiet now. The irony—dysfunction, thy name is Labor—of them putting the word dysfunction in this MPI. For six years, there was pink batts, school halls, cash for clunkers, the carbon tax and the mining tax, which is my personal favourite. It did not raise a cent, but locked in $16 billion in expenditure. They are all politics and no substance.

The irony is that the comedian, the Leader of the Opposition, stands up here for 10 minutes and keeps his backbench entertained. The people of Australia are over this crap. They are over it. Those opposite think all this resonates here in the beltway, but I have news for them: the people want to feel safe. The Minister for Justice, since coming to the role in 2013, along with this government, have them feeling safer than ever. When the games were going on last week, I waited in my seat at question time for the Manager of Opposition Business to ask one question of the minister about a 16-year-old boy and a colleague who were pulled up minutes away from an act of terror in his own electorate—but not one question. You are all politics on that side and no substance. We are getting on with government.

If all this is in government it is one thing, but now we are seeing it in opposition. I do not mind them trying to take the focus off what is really going on—the internal power struggles of the Labor Party—but it is going on this week again. You put Kim Carr in, you take Kim Carr out; you put Kim Carr in—you are going to need some help to do the next part—and you shake him all about. When you do that, we find that a split in the Left emerges. Does anyone know who Gavin Marshall is? I have to read his name because I don't know who he is. You could not pick him in a line-up. Who is he? Instead of where's Wally, we should have where's Gavin Marshall. But he found his voice this week, and poor old Gilesy, Andrew Giles, and Catherine King, they are gone.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask the assistant minister to refer to members by their correct title.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker. Andrew Giles and Catherine King are gone, apparently. I do not know what faction the member for Batman is in, but maybe Gavin Marshall can find your house. Maybe he can.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lalor on a point of order.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Could the member please refer to other members by their appropriate names.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the assistant minister to refer to members in this House and the other one by their correct title.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Senator Marshall has made that much of an impact that I am guessing he is from Victoria. Then we have the Kimberley Kitching debacle. One frontbencher has said, 'It's crazy to put her in.' Albo would not endorse her—

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker—

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, the member for Grayndler would not endorse her.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order from the member for Moreton.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, not one minute ago you directed the minister to use correct titles—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The assistant minister has corrected himself.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler would not endorse her. Keep distracting, but these are the underlying truths sitting inside the factional wars of the Labor Party. The Leader of the Opposition stands up here and plays comedian for 10 minutes when at all times he is managing his own backbench to ensure his own job. The most frustrating part is that this is what cuts through outside this place, this is what you get in the front lines of Western Sydney: you get to talk about economic growth of 3.3 per cent—the highest rate since the GFC, with 180,000 jobs created in the last 12 months and 60 per cent of them for women. We have an economic plan which the Prime Minister keeps standing up and talking about. There are the free trade agreements. Reid has a strong local Chinese community, and we have young Chinese Australians who are opening up businesses or partnering with local businesses in Reid and employing other Australians as they start to export to China. That is where the 180,000 jobs created are coming from—the economic plan. And $195 billion will be spent on defence over the next 10 years, with 54 new naval vessels. In the six years of the previous government, there was not one. My personal favourite—I am biased because I am one of the ministers responsible—is the National Innovation and Science Agenda. We heard Minister Hunt today congratulate the prize winners from last night. There is a $200 million CSIRO fund to work with SMEs—my passion—to partner with them and to commercialise science, to take it to market; to take the concepts from institutions inside this country and commercialise them. Why? To create the growth that creates jobs. The $500 million Medical Translation Fund will work in one of our six growth centres, medical research. We are world leaders in that, but historically we have seen an exodus of our brains trust, our into intellectual property, offshore post-development. No more.

Dr Freelander interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the member for Macarthur that he is out of this place. He is warned and if he interjects once more he will remove himself under 94(a)

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have heard the Prime Minister talk about the last week, but in the last month there have been $11 billion worth of budget savings. There have been tax cuts for 500,000 Australians, which stops them moving into the top tax bracket. We have been fixing Labor's VET FEE-HELP mess, there is an enhanced free trade agreement with Singapore and we are supporting the CFA volunteers against the Victorian government and their union mates. Wherever you look in this country and you see a Labor government, you will see up their back the hand of their local union. The unions are the puppeteers of the puppets who sit opposite. If you want dysfunction, dysfunction thy name is Labor. We are getting on with the business of government. You will notice there has not been one laugh in my ten minutes, because I am not interested in spin—I am interested in substance. I am interested in delivering not only for the people of Reid but for the people of Western Sydney.

Ms Owens interjecting—

The plan, member for Parramatta, has delivered 180,000 jobs in 12 months—many of them in your backyard.

Ms Owens interjecting—

Unemployment has gone up—5.6 per cent. Thank you for reminding me. I did not remember that. This MPI is an absolute joke.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is extraordinary to have the previous member boasting about unemployment rates that have actually risen and talking about factional politics at a time when the New South Wales Right, as represented by the member for Warringah, the former Prime Minister, is attacking the New South Wales Left, as represented by the current Prime Minister—not sure how much longer he will be there—the member for Wentworth. There is no clearer example of the division and dysfunction at the heart of this government than the former Prime Minister's stalking of the current Prime Minister. He pops up week after week: 'Here I am! Here I am! Here I am!' And here he is now on gun control. What an extraordinary reversal we see. As The Sydney Morning Herald pointed out today there is 'Townie Tony', who actually wants to crack down on guns, and 'Machine Gun Malcolm', who wants to make it easier to get these lever-action shotguns.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, that was a quote from The Sydney Morning Herald. I am quoting the newspaper. We have division and dysfunction at the heart of this government with a guns for votes scandal.

This comes on top of the member for Warringah stalking the member for Wentworth, the current Prime Minister, on marriage equality. We all know that the Prime Minister actually thinks there should be a free vote in the parliament—he said it before; he said it a year ago—but he is not allowed to do it because the member for Warringah is creeping up behind him day after day.

We know that the member for Wentworth was a very effective advocate for the need to do something about climate change. Whatever happened to the member for Wentworth who was an effective advocate for doing something on climate change? He has gone.

In foreign affairs, we have the member for Warringah popping up not just in Australia but overseas talking about what Europe should be doing, what the United States should be doing and what Australia should be doing. The Prime Minister is unable to lead his country's foreign affairs debate because the member for Warringah is stalking him the whole way.

This government is extraordinary. There were 37 people appointed before the last election, at the last minute, to $370,000 a year jobs. There was not a peep from the Prime Minister. There were big business tax cuts of $50 billion. The benefits mostly flow overseas. Julie Bishop, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, spent $200,000 to send 23 public servants to Paris to—guess what?—talk about cost savings! Incredible, isn't it? There were $500-a-night hotel rooms, so it cost $1,500 for three nights for each of the 23. There were $7, 600 airfares for each of the 23 public servants. It cost $1,500 per person for meals. What a terrific cost-saving junket that is!

I want to finish on how this dysfunction shows itself in schools policy. In New South Wales we have a Liberal Premier and a Nationals education minister who are doing more for Australian children in schools than anybody in this federal government is prepared to do. They are standing up to the federal government and saying: 'We signed a six-year deal. We want the six-year deal honoured. We're not content to receive just a third of the funding that you promised to New South Wales school children and neither are the parents, teachers, principals, school staff and children in New South Wales.'

And what else have we heard today? We have heard that the former Minister for Education authorised an advertising campaign which legal advice to his department said may have breached the law. In fact, they told him: 'It could be found to have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct under section 18 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010'. That is $15 million worth of government advertising that may have misled consumers. What did it say? It said what they were after was a fifty-fifty split on university costs—where the student paid 50 per cent and the government paid 50 per cent. The department knew that what they were in fact asking was that students pay something much closer to 60 per cent, not 50 per cent; they were talking about a government contribution of 39½ per cent. It is an extremely dysfunctional government that can deliver— (Time expired)

Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome this opportunity to speak on and oppose this matter of public importance. I wonder how Hansard will record the sound of the slowly and sadly deflating balloon that we heard earlier when the Leader of the Opposition got up to speak. It is a reflection of the sadness and futility of the opposition, which is clearly being felt by those opposite, that even the subject matter they choose for MPIs seems somewhat tepid and uninspired. Of course, it should not surprise us that this opposition, which is in opposition because it had so few plans for government, should now be running out of ideas and things to say when we are only about 100 days into this parliament. We should thank our lucky stars that this parliament is not sitting tomorrow or next week because by then the opposition would probably be left nominating topics that they find in gossip magazines or in the leftover newspapers in the staff cafe!

Yet I do think it is appropriate that we remind ourselves every month or so about the utter dysfunction and chaos that was in full swing five years ago when Labor was last in office—by that stage, incidentally, in a coalition government with the Greens. It is said that history repeats itself, and never has that been more true than in the minds of the opposition. So shell-shocked are they from the six years of dysfunction, bitter divisions and policy paralysis that characterised their years in government they are still focused on it today. Not only did we have the farce of the revolving door of leadership in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd days, but we had that litany of policy failures—pink batts, the rorted school halls program and six years of record debt and deficits.

By comparison, this government has a long list of achievements. I am only a relatively new member in this place, but in the 15 sitting days that I have sat in this parliament since I was elected we have given tax cuts to middle-income earners; we have tightened our counterterrorism laws; we have signed a new free trade agreement with Singapore; we have fixed large and growing rorts in so many of the flawed schemes that previous Labor governments implemented, including VET FEE-HELP and child care; we have successfully protected those vulnerable volunteers around Australia in organisations like the CFA from the institutional predation of the union movement; we have just passed in this House the ABCC bill and the registered organisations bill, which will help to restore the rule of law in such a big and critical sector of our economy—and they will do more than those opposite ever did before to address housing affordability in our inner city areas.

But, possibly most importantly of all, in the interests of stability, certainty and economic confidence, this government has achieved something incredibly important yet quite simple: this government has become the first government in Australia in over 12 years to be re-elected in its own right. You cannot understate the damage that all of that instability and dysfunction of those terrible Labor-Greens-Labor years of government did to the economy, which we are now working so hard to undo. What I have seen and experienced so far in my short number of days in this House is a government that has won every substantive vote in this House—not just by one vote but usually by two to 12, depending on how the crossbench votes.

I would also like to say something about the meaningless and silly stunts attempted by those in opposition since the election. I did not get very involved in student union politics when I was at university, but I think I recognise student union politics when I see it. I do not know how Hansard will record the sound of that slowly and sadly deflating balloon that we are hearing over there as they recognise the impotence of being in opposition. It is sad; it is futile—and it mocks their claims to be a constructive partner in government.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call the member for Lalor, there is a general warning on behaviour. There will be no more warnings. The next person that unruly will be removed under 94(a).

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am really pleased to stand and follow the member for Brisbane—the member for 'silly talks', as his new nickname has him going by. I would like to quote George Costanza at this time: 'Would it kill you not to be funny? Please! Would it kill you not to be funny?' We are here on a matter of public importance—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin on a point of order.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Deputy Speaker. The member for Lalor has used an unparliamentary term in relation to my colleague. Can you ask her to withdraw, please.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was listening to the member for Lalor. I do not believe it was unparliamentary. It may be inappropriate but not under parliamentary. I ask the member for Lalor to keep that in mind.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker; thank you very much. I rise to speak on a matter of public importance today because what we have witnessed today is absolute history. Never have we seen two prime ministers—the former Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister—go toe-to-toe on the floor of the House on the same side!

A government member interjecting—

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: I think the member opposite is ignoring your ruling. I am pretty sure I heard you say that the next member who interjects will get chucked out under 94(a).

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I realise the member might be new. It is also unconventional to call a point of order when one of your members is speaking. I call the member for Lalor.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is a day of firsts. It is a day of firsts, and the member for Lyons might have to have a meeting in my office! But, this is serious. It is a very serious day. I think the previous member said something about the hissing of a balloon. What I heard was the thunk of a bus—and then, when given an opportunity to recant, he backed the bus back over him again! He backed it back over him again. Those opposite are in complete disarray.

Now we could stand here all day I think and not use the same material. We could start with: 'I have got a good idea. Let's have an eight-week election campaign in the middle of winter.' That was a good one from this government, wasn't it? That was gold. The Australian public loved it too. That is why they returned them with a smaller majority. The numbers over here increased; the numbers over there decreased. But, of course, the Prime Minister suggested that he had a working majority—and then those opposite set about proving him wrong! That is what they have been doing since he became the Prime Minister. If we could have whipped that out ourselves, but we did not need to.

The Minister for Justice was off—'Boarding call! Boarding call!' There he was in the lounge ready to leave, while the rest of us were still here at work. Not only are they dysfunctional; they are workshy. They are absolutely workshy. This mob have no intention of doing any work. They want to talk about employment rates and unemployment rates. They want to talk about workers. They need to show up and do some work in this place. We have had 100 days since the election—it is over 100 now—and we have sat for 15 days in this place. We have been asked for 15 days to show up here and represent the electors who had to vote for us, to bring us back to this place to represent them here.

We could go on all day. We will try the next one. What was next? The census. Now that went well, didn't it? Then today we find in Senate estimates that the census fail cost $30 million, because those opposite could not organise themselves into portfolios and take responsibility for the jobs they were given—but we can understand that now. It is now more than 100 days since the census failed. Also, we still do not know who the senior minister is for Defence. But I can say this: I woke up this morning to headlines that said the killing season was coming. I did not realise it would be here so quickly. I really did not realise that we would be moving into the killing season. I want to reference my good mate Senator Dastyari. He gave a speech in which he said that 'winter is coming'. Remember: winter is coming. Well, the sun is shining outside and those opposite are nearly finished.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I might just improve the tone of the debate.

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just by standing up!

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just by standing up I have achieved it. Well, well, well, I cannot believe that the Leader of the Opposition has put forward this matter of public importance. Here is a man who played a key role in the most dysfunctional, divided and chaotic government in Australian history—the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. The opposition leader is attributed with the ascension of Julia Gillard as Prime Minister, and, only three years later, he knifed her to replace her with her predecessor, whom he first toppled in 2010, Kevin Rudd. All this talk of gun laws is, as we know on this side, just another smokescreen to avoid us focusing on bad union behaviour. So I think the opposition leader and those opposite know a lot about dysfunction.

Today I am very pleased to be able to speak about the Turnbull government's growing record, which sets new standards for diligent and sensible economic management.

Opposition members interjecting—

We have achieved a lot lately. Let me talk about it. Our economic record in testing global economic circumstances remains a point of pride, not just for me but for all the members on this side of the House. Our economic growth has strengthened by 3.3 per cent, which means Australia now has the fastest growing economy of the G7 nations. For those opposite who do not appreciate the significance of what I have just said—because I know that sometimes you have trouble understanding basic foreign affairs—this means we are growing our economy at a faster rate than the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and four other developed Western economies. This does not happen by accident or if you are dysfunctional, as alleged by the opposition leader. We are outperforming comparable economies.

We are working hard to ensure Australia's economic future is a safe and secure one—the chamber is nice and quiet; that is the way we like it—by legislating some of the world's toughest measures relating to multinational tax avoidance legislation, which Labor failed to introduce during their time in government. They had plenty of opportunity to legislate such measures but failed to do so. Despite the blustering of those opposite about multinationals avoiding paying their fair share of the tax burden, they actually voted against that piece of legislation in this House. For those who have forgotten, the Leader of the Opposition's first tax policy as opposition leader was—what do you think it might have been?—a multinational tax avoidance policy. Apparently, he knew something about it and was quite interested in bringing that into play; but, unfortunately, he could not get it over the line with his colleagues sitting opposite. Our multinational tax avoidance policy was a piece of legislation so clearly beneficial for this country that, unbelievably, even the Greens could see it made sense and voted accordingly. Labor, in the interim, sat on their hands and did nothing, just like they did in their six years of running the country. The Turnbull government, as we know on this side, is pro-business and pro-growth. We are working hard on this side to grow the country and to allow the next generation and the generation after that to inherit this country in a much better shape than how we found it back in 2013. I am very proud—

Mr Hawke interjecting—

as the assistant minister at the table said—that we have created some 180,000 jobs over the past year, with 60 per cent of those jobs going to women and a large portion of those going to women in my electorate of Durack. We have also signed export agreements, as we have heard previously, with China, Japan, South Korea and we have a new expanded free trade agreement with Singapore. This is great news for the electorate of Durack, with many of my local businesses able to take advantage of these free trade agreements.

Those opposite might not care about regional and remote Australia, but this side of this House does—let me tell you—and we are very proud of our record in regional Australia, promoting growth through our innovation economy and through significant investment in roads and also in mobile telecommunications, especially in my electorate of Durack, where we have announced 45 new towers. We have a fair dinkum desire to develop Northern Australia, which I am particularly proud of. My electorate of Durack has been able to participate in a $600 million road fund and will benefit from the $100 million beef roads package. I see no dysfunction on this side of the House, but I see plenty on that side of the House.

David Feeney (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak to the subject of this MPI, because this is a government whose Prime Minister cannot control his party—a Prime Minister who is unable to manage this parliament and a government whose ministers cannot decide who is in control. Let's cast our minds back to some 12 months ago. At that moment in time, it appeared that the member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, as he first lunged for the crown, was at the height of his powers. At that moment in time, many Australians imagined that they were getting a Prime Minister who was a conviction politician. They imagined that they were getting a Prime Minister who was going to reposition the Liberal Party on key issues like climate change and marriage equality. Hope started to flutter in the hearts of progressives around Australia. Well, 12 months later, those dreams have been shattered as, time and again, we have seen this government fail.

We first saw the new Prime Minister come into office and immediately kowtow to the far Right of his party. He made no attempt to lead the direction of his government; he has instead surrendered. He has surrendered to the right wing of his party in exchange for the throne he sits on—and you can see how uncomfortable that is. You see a Prime Minister, who, time and time again, has used vaulting language to describe the most pitiful proposals. Do we remember the greatest reform in the history of our Federation? Do we remember the idea that states would start to engage in taxation? As one wag said at the time: 'This is an idea that has lasted for less time than the average hangover.' Do we remember the vacuous slogans that he promised to get rid of? And then, of course, he launched 'jobs and growth'. Do we remember the GST? Do we remember the great reform that he was going to launch this country into? It was a tax reform program that came out at Christmas and died an ignoble death.

This is a government which in fact has had nothing to offer the Australian people—not convictions, not reform. But it has offered us entertainment. It has offered us the entertainment of a government that cannot control the parliament. It has offered us the entertainment of a government that seeks to condemn itself. Now we see before us the lively debates in question time between the Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister. We now see their divisions in open display, and they are delightful. A group of persons who came to this place saying that there was a budget emergency have made the debt so very worse. A group of people who came to this place saying that getting rid of a first-term Prime Minister was a disgrace have done that themselves. There is nothing left that makes you any different from a bunch of clowns roaming the body politic.

An eight-week election campaign was how they were going to bring themselves out of the morass they found themselves in. Let me give a big shout-out at this moment to the Greens for enabling that double dissolution election. What a triumph it was for you—a campaign where you offered the Australian people neither policy nor hope, where every single slogan that had brought you to government in 2013 had already been turned to dust—a government that now stands in this place and in this debate bereft of credibility. All the member for Wentworth can now do is survive week to week. Is it any wonder that this is a government that wants the parliament to meet as little as possible? Is it any wonder that this is a Prime Minister who has no legislation for this parliament to consider? There is no reform agenda and there is no reason this Prime Minister would want this parliament to meet, because of course what happens when parliament meets? Liberal Party MPs get to talk to one another, and that is ripe with danger.

We saw a few moments ago the Liberal Party backbench apparently rise from their tomb. We on this side had thought they had died a death many years ago, but suddenly today you were enlivened because you heard Tony Abbott speak and your little right-wing hearts burst with excitement! And suddenly, instead of lying there like zombies, you rose up and slammed your tables because you found in your ranks a man who in fact does have some fight in him. He may even believe in something. What a striking contrast to your Prime Minister! And so you came to life, and we can see the flags flying over there as you remember those glory days when you had a Prime Minister who believed in something. The next few months are going to be quite a remarkable sight as we watch this play out in your ranks. But there are a few things we know for sure: no matter how that debate ends you will not believe in anything and you will not accomplish anything. (Time expired)

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very disappointed to interrupt the member for Batman's audition for a re-entry to the frontbench. I am not sure how well it went, but good luck, member for Batman.

What an extraordinary MPI we have seen here today. I thought all my Christmases had come at once when I saw 'Dysfunction in the government'. I thought, 'Dysfunction. Hold on, I'm from Victoria. Has anyone seen Senator Marshall's comments this week, speaking of dysfunction?' I think we should go through it. I so wish the member for Scullin were here, but I suspect the member for Scullin is somewhere stacking branches or maybe preparing for a membership drive, given that we have a few issues in the Victorian division of the Labor Party. At a meeting earlier this week, we are told—it is reported, and this is what Senator Marshall has reported—there was a lot of unhappiness with the member for Scullin. In the words of Senator Marshall on the record—these are not comments in the background; these are on-the-record comments—the member for Scullin 'was a very bad fit for Scullin as the member and there is a mood for change in the branch. I've been talking to lots of people in Scullin.' There you have it: Senator Marshall openly saying in the media that he is stacking the branches against the member for Scullin.

I happen to quite like the member for Scullin, but a dirt sheet that went out on the member for Scullin did strike a chord with me. A dirt sheet that I suspect Senator Marshall put around to his 950 branch members did strike a chord. This dirt sheet said as follows, and this is a branch member in Scullin commenting on the member for Scullin:

When my mates' jobs are going overseas and I can't get full time hours after being laid off ... I don't want to hear he—

the member for Scullin—

cried in Parliament about gay marriage—I want him to cry and fight for us, our jobs and our ability to put food on the table ...

I suspect Senator Marshall is in Scullin just needling, just working the branches. Again, I like the member for Scullin, but I really do enjoy seeing Senator Marshall stirring it up. We are seeing open warfare in the Labor Party.

I feel very sorry for the Leader of the Opposition because he is essentially a right-wing member of the Labor Party trying to keep an extreme left-wing rump of his party under control. Now we have the Victorian Left, which has broken away from the national Left to the point where Albo—the member for Grayndler, sorry—has no idea who Kimberley Kitching is. Everybody in the trade union royal commission knows who Kimberley Kitching is, and I can tell members opposite that there will be a lot coming. I cannot wait for Ms Kitching to arrive here in parliament. We are going to have a lot of fun with that. If members of the Left had any guts whatsoever, they would put a stop to it. Where is the great Left of the Labor Party to stop this absolutely disgraceful captain's pick? This is somebody who the trade union royal commission decided deserves charges to be placed against her.

Talking about dysfunction, what other dysfunction is there? We have more dysfunction between the Left and the Right of the Labor Party: Senator Wong slapping down the shadow minister for defence with his outrageous comments in relation to the South China Sea. Senator Wong confirmed on a number of occasions, apparently, that Labor's policy is no different to ours in relation to the South China Sea. So why hasn't the Leader of the Opposition slapped down the member for Corio, as he should, for that disgraceful and lazy comment that he made? Apparently this parliament has no say over what our ADF do—the ADF personnel decide that. I am with Senator Wong on this—it is one of the very few issues that I would be with Senator Wong on—in slapping down the shadow minister for defence. But where is the Leader of the Opposition in this? The Leader of the Opposition cannot even assert a basic fact like that for fear of going against his factional ally in Victoria, because his party is crumbling underneath him. It is only a matter of time when Senator Marshall against the member for Scullin expands throughout the party, and I look forward to witnessing that.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the previous speaker, the member for Deakin, really highlighted how incompetent this government is. He did not defend them at all. Absolutely nothing—not one defence. There is nothing he can say to defend his government. It was the same with previous speakers—they could not at all defend their government. What we have here is a government that is completely dysfunctional. They have no unity at all. It is a government at war with itself and in total chaos. This is a government that, for the first time since federation, voted to condemn itself. That is what they did—they are so incompetent. They are in this position because the Prime Minister is so weak that he cannot stand up to anybody—

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, do you want to invite the member to table her speech?

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Deakin, that is not a point of order.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He never can defend this government. It is unbelievable. They are in this position because the Prime Minister is so weak and unable to stand up to anybody in his party. It is that chaotic. He is so weak. They are not actually doing the job that they were voted in for, to govern the country. That is what you are voted in for. They did not defend any of that; they did not defend any policies before; they just could not do it. And they cannot do it because there are so many divisions within their party.

We have a Prime Minister unable to make any decisions because he is so beholden to those right-wing extremists in both the Liberal Party and the National Party. The National Party thinks this is great. They think it is Christmas. They think it is great that they are on telly all the time demanding what government policy might be. They think it is wonderful. Unfortunately, the rest of the country is pretty worried about this, because they know how extremist their views are. Perhaps even worse, we know the effects of the harsh cuts that the National Party will continue to pursue in health, education and community infrastructure. We know what they will do. Make no mistake about it, in regional areas we blame the Nationals for all the extreme cuts that we have seen in country areas. We know what they are like. So it surely is a measure of the Prime Minister's character that all we see is dithering, weakness, unwillingness and his inability to stand up to those in his party.

There are so many serious divisions in the government as well. Let's have a look at the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah—parading around on 7.30 last night acting like he is like the Prime Minister in exile. Every time he is on telly, or here, that is all he does. Ever since he was dumped as Prime Minister he has been out there backgrounding, undermining, waiting to come back.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will refer to other members by their correct titles, which I understand she has been warned about already. I am making it very clear that the member will refer to members by their correct titles. I sat the Leader of the Opposition down on this very point.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In recent days we have seen the issue of gun safety regulation really highlight the divisions in the government—their dysfunction and indeed their dishonesty. This is an issue I feel very strongly about, particularly as a former police officer. I am very proud that we have very strong gun laws in this country. We should not be changing that at all. That is why the debate we have seen over the last few days is a disgrace when it comes to this government. We have seen a lot of coverage about the classification of the Adler shotgun. The fact that both the current Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, have been prepared to trade votes for guns is very, very concerning. We saw today in question time the Prime Minister openly contradict the former Prime Minister's claims about the votes for guns scandal, and indeed, as the opposition leader said, we saw him really throw him under a bus. We should all be very, very worried that the Prime Minister has been caught out trying to do this deal. It is a real concern. Also, these changes that we have had the government talking about are really being pushed along by our friends in the National Party. Every day one of them comes out spruiking these changes, wanting this to happen.

Of course, we know that there is a COAG meeting on tomorrow and we are all waiting very eagerly to see exactly what the government does, because it really is an absurd situation that they are in. We would really like to know where the Prime Minister stands, because we really see him all over the shop, so weak and dithering on so many issues. We have seen him change his position on super; we have seen him refuse to take effective action on climate change or marriage equality; and now, possibly, gun laws. We just see him walking away from so many different positions all the time, and it really does reflect his weakness.

So we have all this dysfunction happening, but while this dysfunction is happening the government has managed to continue with their very harsh and cruel cuts to the Australian people, particularly their cuts to services, and especially those shameful cuts to services to people in regional areas, which, as I said, we blame the National Party for. The fact is that we have a government that is completely dysfunctional, a government that has no unity at all; a government that is at war with itself over so many issues, which they should be constantly condemned for. None of their speakers have been able to defend the government because they cannot defend it. (Time expired)

Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great opportunity that I have been given to talk about this motion, which somehow seems to try to portray that this government is in some sort of chaos. If you observe what has gone on here in our short time, you will see that an amazing situation was arrived at with the superannuation reforms. There were some concerns at the initial announcement. What we saw behind the scenes was a range of meetings between our financial leaders—the Treasurer, the Minister for Finance—with a whole range of backbenchers who were representing their communities. We landed on a spot that everybody can live with. There are still significant savings for the budget and that is where we are now moving to. We have moved to a situation where we have a Prime Minister who is fully committed to fixing up the budget in a real and meaningful way. We understand that our political opponents, Labor, stand for more debt. They stand for increased taxes, and there is no way known that they are going to have the capacity within themselves to make any hard decisions for the betterment of this country and the future of this country.

Recently we have looked at a $195 billion investment in the defence system. We know that for six years Labor spent zero dollars on these big-ticket items that needed to be invested in. Previously, in another life, I was the minister for veterans affairs in the Victorian government and had many of the senior Army, Air Force and Navy personnel talking to me about the lack of investment by the Labor Party, at that stage in government in Australia. Again we find that the coalition, on this side of the House, sees that we have to invest in the long-term strategic defence of Australia.

We also understand that, in regional Victoria, mobile communications blackspots are an incredibly important issue. We stand by our record, having invested in over 490 mobile phone towers right around Australia. When we compare that to our political opponents in Labor, over six years when they were in control of the country they did not invest in one mobile phone tower. They turn their back on regional Victoria and turn their back on some of the most important issues such as communications. Their deplorable effort when they attempted to roll the National Broadband Network out across Australia was absolutely pathetic, and yet here we are now, rolling out the NBN—still with some challenges, yes, but we are certainly connecting up more and more of Australia than Labor could ever have hoped for.

We have passed legislation on personal income tax and company tax. This has been proven by the economists as the way to grow our country. Again, it is a tough decision to go down this path, to ensure that we create the opportunity where we can grow further jobs and the economy, but certainly it is one of the tough decisions that have been made by a cohesive government.

We have also seen the Prime Minister come to the aid and the defence of Victoria's Country Fire Authority. What an amazing act that was. We have a Premier in Victoria who, for some reason, is hell-bent on destroying that volunteer base. Quite unbelievably, he does not seem to be able to go left or right on this one; he is just stuck in the headlights. He has done whatever he could do to undermine the wealth of knowledge and the command of the CFA and its volunteers so that he can be beholden to the United Firefighters Union and those unionists—who obviously have photos, I might say. They have something over Daniel Andrews. We are not quite sure what it is. However, he has sacked ministers, he has sacked the board and he has sacked the chief fire officer. He has sacked nearly everybody who has previously had a role in the CFA—and if he could sack the volunteers he would, except he does not have that sort of control over them. It has been an enormous mess, and now legislation has been passed by the Prime Minister that will see those volunteers given protection from any legislation passed in the future that will impact them.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this discussion has now expired.