Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak against the motion that we are debating this afternoon in the time that is available for non-government business. I know that it has been 11½ years since those that sit on the other side have been in the non-government place in this chamber—and, can I say, it shows. Non-government business has a special place in the Senate. It provides an opportunity for those members of the Senate who are not on the government benches to raise issues of importance, not to run an advertising campaign. When I read the motion that we are debating today I have to say that it is political rhetoric. The opportunity that was afforded the opposition this afternoon to have a sensible debate about the economy, if that is what they wanted to talk about, has been undermined by fatuous language that sounds more like what you would say when you are at a Liberal Party branch meeting. There will be no respect shown by the community when they read what I think are the silly words that someone in the opposition has dreamt up for this debate which we have now been having for around two hours. It is a lost opportunity when the opposition have dreamt up petulant words in order to have a debate. I am not one for giving advice a lot, but my advice to those on the opposition benches is to use the time on Thursday afternoons to have a sensible debate, to raise issues that you think are important. Don’t just make it an opportunity not even for a political debate—and ‘debate’ would be stretching the language—but for the sort of sloganeering that might sound good to those people Senator Bernardi said were listening to us in their cars on the way home. Rather, it would be more appropriate to educate them about something that maybe the Liberal Party thinks should happen differently.

In the last few months the new government has used the time available to it very wisely in a number of ways. First of all, it has used the time to consult with communities. We have heard a lot of criticism from those on the other side about the number of committees that have been established. I do not resile from the fact that, yes, we have set up a number of committees. They are for good reasons. We have shut down a few as well—ones that probably were not providing us with balanced and fair advice. And I take umbrage and offence at Senator Bernardi’s comment that we were stacking these committees with Labor apparatchiks. I am sorry, but there has been a very sensible and balanced approach to ensuring that the breadth of community views is reflected on the number of committees we have established. So I refute Senator Bernardi’s comments about the purpose and membership of committees. It is important to consult. It was good to hear Senator Coonan acknowledge that in her contribution. It is important to consult and to have a number of people who are part of the public debate. That is called leadership. We will not be cowed into not taking the responsible position of ensuring that consultation occurs with committees.

The other thing which is not dissimilar to what happened under the previous government is that we have used this time in the pre-budget period to ensure that assessment of current programs is undertaken, and decisions will be made in the lead-up to the budget. Senator Coonan, as a former minister in this place, will agree that you do not discuss deliberations around the budget in the lead-up to bringing down the budget.