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

I rise to speak on the document. I have been severely provoked, and named, by the previous speaker. I was not going to speak on this document at all; in fact, I was going to sit quietly and wait for the adjournment debate to come on. But the previous speakers Senator McEwen and Senator Cameron just launched into the opposition for no reason at all—a tirade with no basis.

I can assure Senator Cameron that, whatever report he read on the party room, I was there too and there was no talk of Work Choices. What we have here, and you could hear this from the previous speaker, is a desperate government. They are so desperate now that they cling to anything they can as a distraction, as even a morale booster, if you like, for their side. Their morale is way down, as it ought to be, because of what happened this week and last week. And here comes the greatest morale dipper you have ever seen, about to sit down and take up chamber duty—Senator Carr would dint your morale, wouldn’t he? The previous two government speakers have simply attempted to distract from their own problems—their own serious, deep problems.