Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Government should be here to do great things. Government has the power to do great things. And what does this mob use government for? To shut down debate in this chamber, to shut down the parliament's ability to scrutinise legislation—not new legislation, but the legislation that this parliament defeated only two weeks ago. What a disgrace this government is. If arrogance and smugness is the defining feature of this government, they have it in abundance. They don't have a plan for our economy. They don't have a plan for wages. They don't have a plan for working parents who are struggling with the rise in the cost of living. They don't have a plan for energy. Their last energy plan got thrown out with Malcolm Turnbull. They don't have a plan to reduce our emissions. That's hardly surprising, given the state of the energy and emissions reduction minister, who is becoming a complete joke in this place.

They don't have a plan to bring this country towards a more renewable future. They don't have a plan to fix our failing education system. What they have is arrogance and smugness, led by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House. Yesterday the Leader of the House stood in this place and lectured everyone, arrogantly and smugly, saying that no-one should be intervening against the minister for energy and the New South Wales police commissioner's investigation. Yet that man stood and listened to the Prime Minister on the phone to the New South Wales police commissioner. This government is a disgrace. They have no plan for our country. The only thing they do is shut down democracy in this place, and Australians are all the worse for it.