Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have probably been debating this bill for close to 10 hours, through the second reading stage and the committee stage. Throughout those debates, at numerous intersections, Minister Wong has accused us and others in the chamber—but particularly those of us on this side—of playing politics with the debate. She has accused us of being overtly political throughout the debate. Perhaps the pot should look in the mirror at the kettle, because we just had 15 minutes of overt politics, of totally playing politics. However, it is not for the first time in this debate by any means—for the umpteenth time, the minister has felt the need, particularly during this committee stage, to hector and lecture on political point-scoring matters.

I would like to think that we will have robust debates here and yes, Minister, we will actually have robust political debates too—you know that and I know that; we are all grown-ups and we all recognise that politics will be engaged in just as the issues will be engaged in—but do not lecture us on the one hand about playing politics and then give us 15-minute political lectures on the other hand.

The minister knows full well that the process of funding buybacks was started by Mr Turnbull. The minister knows equally well that it was also not long before the election that the Water Act was passed; it was passed only a couple months prior to the election. It was one of the last pieces of legislation dealt with in this chamber. Minister, you know that. You know very well that that is the case. If it had not been for the fact that Minister Turnbull had allocated $10 billion of funding in last year’s budget, you would not have managed to get the funding through the razor gang this year. You would not have managed to get the extra funding that was required to have that $10 billion to be able to do these things. So you owe Mr Turnbull a lot for the fact that he put the process in place. He started things going. He started the ball rolling. Indeed, if your Victorian Labor Party counterparts had not been playing politics with this issue throughout the course of last year, throughout the lead-up to the last election, more may well have been able to be done. The minister obviously feels like she needs a little bit more loving today. She wants some commendation. Minister, I am happy to commend you.