Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It is not surprising that Senator Farrell stood up and tried to defend Senator Arbib, his fellow warlord, faction master, powerbroker—or however they like to describe themselves as they promote themselves through the press. But what I find amazing is the contribution by the warlord, Senator Farrell, and the poor victim of betrayal, Senator Hutchins. Senator Hutchins was actually an employer of note of Senator Arbib’s; the apprentice has eclipsed the master through a dagger assault—whether it was from the front or in the back, we are not sure. We only know that Senator Arbib has risen beyond his capacity. That is one thing we know for sure, because this is a minister who cannot be relied upon to do his job. The job he was given in this place was to oversee the administration and implementation of the batty pink batt program.

What was the result of this program? We have had fires in 95 homes—and it is estimated that there are another 135 homes at risk of fire—thanks to a dodgy insulation program. Senator Farrell and Senator Hutchins have the hide and the nerve to come in here and say that a $3 billion pink batt program was somehow going to save the global economy from recession. What absolute nonsense. They had bats in the belfry if they thought that that was going to save Australia from recession! Poor administration has imposed an enormous cost—tens of millions of dollars worth—on the taxpayer unnecessarily.

And the safety and efficacy of this program was the responsibility of Senator Arbib. The minister whose name they dare not mention on that side of the chamber. Neither Senator Hutchins nor Senator Farrell wanted to invoke the name of the great powerbroker, Senator Arbib. Senator Arbib has been a disaster. His answers to questions are evasive; they are disingenuous. In the Minter Ellison report it said there were weekly meetings with the relevant ministers. Then Minister Arbib said it was ‘regular meetings’, and then today it was ‘infrequent meetings’. He clearly cannot get his time line right as he scrambles to cobble together a defence—a defence that no-one in their right mind will buy.

There was a minister responsible for safety who did not raise the issue of fire safety or other safety issues, such as electrocution. They are the sorts of safety aspects that might endanger people’s lives but this minister did not bother to ask questions about that. He relied on departmental advice which, of course, they all deny seeing. They did not see the Minter Ellison report, even though there were weekly or regular meetings with Minter Ellison! All of these things beggar belief. This is a man who has failed the most basic accountability test of government. Minister Arbib—like their flawed and failed insulation program, which has gone—should go. Mr Garrett should go. They need to stand up and do the mea culpa and say: ‘Yes, we made a terrible mistake. We botched this like we have botched so many other things in the Australian economy and like we have botched so many other things in government.’

Senator Arbib botched so many things in his control of the New South Wales government—the most dysfunctional government, bar the Rudd government, in Australia—and he has botched the handing out of Senate seats like some Illinois governor. He has promised two Senate seats—one to Mr Thistlethwaite, who is his factional cohort and is Labor secretary in New South Wales, and one to some other cat last year. He has two Senate seats up for grabs; the only question is: whose?