Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about a jumper that was very dear to my heart. It was a jumper that I'd had for many years. I wore it the first time I flew to Canberra as the federal member for Perth. But it had started to unravel. It had holes everywhere. It was good-quality Australian wool, I should say, but it had started to unravel. I wore it out to lunch as I holidayed at home this year with my wife in Yallingup. We went out to a winery, and she was very disappointed I had worn this jumper that really just wasn't up to the task anymore. So, firstly, I'll apologise to Jess for wearing it. But Jess was right. She made me throw it out. While I miss it, she was right. When something starts to unravel, you should throw it out.

That brings me to what I want to talk about tonight, which is this government. It has truly started to unravel.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You were enjoying it up until then! It has truly started to unravel this month. It has become a one-man band, and not the good type of one-man band like Bob Dylan or Kevin Parker but more of a solo artist in the vein of Peter Andre. This government is falling apart at the worst possible time.

I saw on my Instagram feed today a meme from the Treasurer. It's good to know what he's been working on: he's been working on that meme—I'm sure for days and days—saying that he wants a road out in Victoria. That made me think. Where is his road map out? Where is his road map on debt? Where is his road map on jobs? Where is his road map on child care? Where is his road map on aged care? I'll give this piece of free advice to the Treasurer: from time to time, it wouldn't hurt to treat premiers of this country with respect.

When it comes to aged care, we have seen a national tragedy occur over recent months. With a tragedy like this, it is no wonder that the Australian people have lost confidence in the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians. John Curtin had Ben Chifley by his side, and Scott Morrison is standing side by side with Senator Colbeck. The minister has walked away from scrutiny. If he's not sacked, in my opinion he should do the decent thing and resign, because he has failed to develop a plan for our aged-care system. He has today released another funding increase that doesn't deal with any of the fundamental long-term challenges that his own royal commission has told him he needs to be addressing. The excessive waits for homecare packages are something that my electorate is well and truly over when it comes to this government. Labor last week released a very clear plan on what could be done to fix aged care now: minimum staffing levels, more homecare packages, more staff training and, of course, what every aged-care worker deserves given the incredibly important work they are doing for us: a secure job.

But, when it comes to training and secure jobs for people, this government's only plan in the education space is a knowledge tax—a tax on people who want to go to university. The Chancellor of the University of Western Australia said that this government's knowledge tax would actually lead to the University of Western Australia having less income—three to four per cent less income—because of the inappropriate increasing of fees for certain students. I've had the Minister for Education try and shut me down when I've spoken in this place. When I tried to speak about the hard border, he got up and shut me down. When the Leader of the Opposition today tried to get up and speak, the Minister for Education shut him down. Now he is trying to shut down our knowledge institutions by whacking a huge amount of fees on the young people of tomorrow. I should recognise that there are intellectuals. There's the member for Hughes—someone who well and truly listens to the experts when it comes to health policy!

This might be a shock to some of those in the chamber who come from other states, but in Western Australia we don't have politics in our local councils—people don't stand as party representatives. But last week The 500 Club, an affiliated entity of the Liberal Party, thought it was appropriate to run a fundraiser off the back of the Perth lord mayoral election. This was completely unacceptable. We've just had a two-year inquiry into the City of Perth looking at the inappropriate conduct of councillors. For The 500 Club to try and fundraise off the back— (Time expired)