Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, it has gone off on me too. Senator Faulkner offered this advice to you about the Labor Party. He said this about the current government which is no more than a month or two old:

... we are very long on cunning and very short on courage.

That was a very courageous thing for him to say, but how right he is. You have not got an agenda. You have ground to a halt. It is if you are shell-shocked about the election result. You are tired. You are not interested. We saw it at question time with Senator Carr. He was asked a question, a two-to three-minute question—however long this new system runs for—and he sat down after 30 seconds. What do you think the issue was? It happened to be the issue of the day—security, asylum seekers and border security. He is the spokesman in this chamber for it and he sat down after 30 seconds, unable to even waffle through the question. He is tired. He is shell-shocked. He is not interested. He is unbriefed.

Listen to your own. If you do not want to listen to the former Senator Richardson—and I would not blame you—or Senator Faulkner, listen to an up-and-comer within your own ranks, Senator Cameron. He is calling you zombies. He has said that you have all had lobotomies. I have kept his quote, do not worry about that.