Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am absolutely gobsmacked that today, of all days, we have Senator Fifield rising, as he has, on the issue of job seekers after we have had a weekend of attacks by the press and, mainly, by the Leader of the Opposition and Senator Abetz on the Prime Minister and the Treasurer of this country. And what do we get in question time today from this rabble over here? Not a word; not a mention. I think Senator Abetz was still looking for the email. It is absolutely ridiculous that you come here on what is an important issue, but one on which you have not said a word for the last week. All you have wanted to do is attack the Treasurer and the Prime Minister of this country, but when you get an opportunity to question on these issues in parliament what do you do? You turn tail and run away from the issue. You run away from the issue because you know that you have been completely wrong in the allegations that you have made against the Prime Minister and against the Treasurer; a Prime Minister and Treasurer who lead the government, are concerned about the unemployed in this country, and are concerned about job seekers but who have a vision and a plan for this country, which you do not have. You have no vision and no plan—nothing for the future of this country.

All you want to engage in is smear, innuendo and witch-hunts. That is the form of the opposition in this parliament—baseless attacks on the PM and Treasurer, and opposition to every initiative that is taken to protect the unemployed and the workers of this country in the face of the greatest global financial crisis we have ever seen. But what would you expect from an opposition that is led by the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull—the bully from Bellevue Hill?