Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy President. At least I am talking to Senator Parry, which is more than this government is doing. If Senator Parry had had his way, he would have explained to the government that their actions were a disaster. What the Burnie City Council is drawing to their attention is that the proposition being advanced is essentially based on polling. It is based on the Textor formula of trying to buy your way back into office. It is not based on any serious analysis of the needs of the region or of the capacity to actually provide services to the people.

This is what the Burnie City Council said:

You can’t possibly try to fractionate the services in a small region like this, it really will spell ultimately the end of Burnie Hospital and probably the end of Mersey.

That is the situation, and Senator Parry acknowledges what I say to be the case. He acknowledges that that is the view that is being expressed by the Liberal Party in the region, but that is not the view, of course, that this government seeks from its own backbench. We have a situation now where this government is being driven by poll desperation. It is a government that will say anything, do anything and spend anything in a desperate bid to cling to office. We have a government that essentially ignores not only its backbench; it ignores its frontbench! It ignores the Minister for Finance and Administration. It basically provides him with the occupation of doormat. In fact, I ask the question of Senator Minchin: how do you pick up your pay every month? How do you pick up your pay when you are treated with such contempt by this Prime Minister? Why is it that you are not doing the job that you said you would do in the Senate?