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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday during question time, the Prime Minister said the government whip would handle complaints about bullying within his government. But today in an interview on 6PR, when asked if there was bullying that goes on in the Liberal Party, the Prime Minister responded, 'No, I don't believe so.' Does that mean that there have been no complaints? Or does the Prime Minister consider the bullying exposed by senators Gichuhi and Reynolds, the member for Chisholm, the Minister for Women, the member for Curtin—one-quarter of the women in the Liberal Party room—did not occur?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I never take at face value the representations made by those opposite of what members on this side have said. What I was asked about yesterday and what I responded to yesterday was that the welfare and pastoral care provided to members of the parliamentary party in the Liberal and National parties is dealt with by the party whips. That is a normal process on this side of the chamber and on that side of the chamber. That is the process that is available to all members of this place. While I am absolutely interested in the welfare of all members of this parliament, particularly those who I have the privilege to lead and serve, I'm even more committed and more interested in the welfare of the Australian people who are, frankly, more interested in their issues and what matters to them than what goes on in this place. We will deal with whatever we have to deal with internally in our party, using the processes that have been in place for many, many years. My members understand my commitment to them when it comes to those issues.

But, again, what I am surprised about, as question time draws to a close, is that, over the course of this day, there have been no questions on drought, no questions on the security of Australians, no questions on how we can actually grow our economy and deliver more essential services that Australians rely on. What we've had is a litany of abuse and innuendo and accusation from the member for Blair. The biggest issue on his agenda is not stopping the boats and the bikies but stopping the au pairs. What do you think they're going to do—read us all a bedtime story? On this side, we're focused on keeping Australia strong, keeping Australia safe and keeping Australians together.