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

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has cancelled the scheduled Council of Australian Governments meeting because his government is too busy fighting itself to finalise vital funding for schools and hospitals. And, the last time this House sat, the government cancelled parliament because it was unwilling and unable to govern. Doesn't this just confirm that the government is too busy fighting itself to govern for Australians? And is this what the Prime Minister meant when he called his own government a muppet show?

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

What the member's question reveals is that he doesn't have a clue. He absolutely doesn't have a clue. Two COAGs are being held this year. And do you know why we're not having COAG in October? Because we're having a drought summit. That's what we're doing. That's what I announced today. We're having a drought summit in October.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The jeers that come from the opposition and the Labor Party when I say that we're having a drought summit tell us a bit about where their priorities are. They want to come in here and go on with all this political rubbish day after day after day. Earlier today, I met with the Deputy Prime Minister and with the special envoy, the member for New England. I met with the head of the National Farmers' Federation and I met with Major General Stephen Day. We received an update on the report of the work that has been done by Major General Stephen Day, who is coordinating the government's response to the drought.

On 26 October, we will bring together people from around the country. I'll be inviting all the state and territory leaders or their nominees or those within their governments who are directly involved in coordinating the drought response to come and align all our efforts to ensure that we're doing a number of things: firstly, that we're getting the feed to where it needs to go to support the efforts of our farmers to keep their properties going and keep them in business; to support the towns; to support the centres; to make sure not only that the farms keep going—

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

The Prime Minister will resume his seat.

Mr McCormack interjecting—

The Deputy Prime Minister will not try and conduct a discussion with me. It'll end badly. The Manager of Opposition Business is on his feet and is seeking to raise a point of order, I presume.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is on direct relevance. The question went to a COAG meeting that was scheduled for 4 October, not the drought summit which is scheduled for 26 October. He was asked about a different meeting.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Just before I call the Prime Minister, if members on my left can cease interjecting, the Prime Minister addressed the question in the very first couple of sentences. I believe the Prime Minister is in order.

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

The member for Watson must think this is some sort of high school debating chamber when he comes in and makes cheap debating points. The fact is—

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Prime Minister, just pause for a second. The member for Moreton can leave the chamber under 94(a). That will lower the temperature.

The member for Moreton then left the chamber.

I've got to say, with some members, it's sequential every day. They interject. They're told not to interject. They keep interjecting and then they leave. It's pretty straightforward.

Mr Rob Mitchell interjecting—

The member for McEwen will not reflect on me. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

The two items that were going to be addressed at the COAG meeting related to the education funding arrangements which are being pursued by the education ministers' council as well as the Council on Federal Financial Relations, who have advised the premiers, when I spoke to them directly about this, that these issues will be resolved in time for when that meeting would have been held anyway. So those issues do not require a special meeting of COAG in October. What we do require in October is a national drought summit to coordinate the entire national effort of not only the state and territory governments but the Commonwealth, the charitable sector, the farming sector, the meat producers—all of these groups coming together to focus on what is my priority. My priority is not to hold a bunch of meetings; my priority is to get things done. I suspect the now shadow Treasurer, when he was minister for immigration, had plenty of meetings about how he might want to stop the boats. He didn't stop one. He could have as many meetings as he liked and he achieved absolutely nothing. What I'm doing is focusing on the— (Time expired)