Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I have listened very closely to the contributions from Senator Cameron and Senator Lundy. These are remarkable tactics we are seeing from the government at present. The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is not in the chamber; he is clearly off wheeling, dealing and negotiating behind closed doors rather than taking part in the debate in this chamber about what is best for this country. The minister responsible for the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010 is somewhere else. He is not in here contributing to the debate that is currently under way about his legislation and about a $43 billion program that would have a profound impact on the nation, a profound impact on a critical industry in Australia, a profound impact on the budget and a profound impact on Australian taxpayers from now into the future.

Senator Cameron talked a lot about vision. He built a lot of his case on the need for vision and on having vision. I have a vision too. I have a vision of responsible government. I have a vision of a government that takes carefully considered decisions. I have a vision of a government that has some consideration and concern for taxpayer dollars. I have a vision of a government that wants to stimulate competition and investment and a private sector in innovative industries. That is not the vision that I see when I look opposite.