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

I think it is my responsibility to pull this debate back to its origins and what this matter of public importance is all about. It was clear Senator Furner—he has walked out of the chamber—never believed a word he said. He could not get out quickly enough. It was obviously dumped on him just minutes before the debate. It was the most hollow of hollow rhetoric I have yet heard in this chamber. I nearly jumped out of my seat when he said that we had squandered the surplus. It is exactly what the previous government left this government—a surplus. We did not squander it. We left $20 billion and the $60 billion Future Fund.

But I will not be seduced by the lightweight argument of the previous speaker. Rather, I will pull this debate back to the matter of public importance that it is. It ought to be said, for those listening to the broadcast, that matters of public importance get preference in the Senate over any other business. It is a time that the opposition and the government can debate matters of, as the title says, public importance—matters that the public is concerned about, that the chamber is concerned about. Yet I am stretched to recall even one occasion when a minister has come in and spoken on a matter of public importance to defend their government. I cannot think of any such occasion. I can only put it down to an arrogance that they get when they get onto the front bench; an arrogance in government and certainly an absolute contempt of their own backbench.

Today, on this of all issues, the Minister for Finance and Deregulation—who is also a former minister for climate change—has not come in to speak. Where is Senator Penny Wong on this issue? Why would she not come in and support and give some morale to the backbenchers? Instead you get the likes of Senator Furner coming in to put up the case and the arguments. That is contemptuous.