Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

There is no hurry, as Senator Macdonald interposed there. There is no hurry; the world is not going to end if the legislation is not passed this year. We know the latest reason which has been put forward as to why this legislation has to pass: so the government and the Greens can strut around the Durban conference and say, 'We're world leaders in Australia.' What they should say if this legislation goes through is, 'We are world leaders at screwing our own economy, we are world leaders at screwing business and we are world leaders at screwing households.' But they want to strut. Vanity and pride are the reasons that the government is forcing this legislation through the chamber in such a fashion. It is vanity and pride: they want to strut, they want to stride and they want to boast. Forget the effects on the Australian economy. Forget what the Australian people think. Who cares what they think? We know the government don't care: they lied to them before the election, so why would they care what the Australian people think of the effect of this? No, no—they are far more concerned about what all the nations represented at Durban think. That is far more important to this government than what the Australian people think or what the effect on the Australian people will be.

We are kind of old-fashioned on this side of the chamber. We actually care what the Australian public think. Firstly, we don't think they should be lied to. Secondly, we care what they think. Thirdly, we care about the real-world impact this legislation will have on them. The contrast between this government and their attitude to the Australian people and that of the opposition could not be greater. On this side of the chamber we believe that there is a fundamental bond of trust which should exist between the voters and a government—a fundamental bond of trust. This government have broken that fundamental bond. This government are at odds with the will of the Australian people. And whenever a government is at odds with the Australian people, Mr Deputy President, I will tell you something that I know you already know: the will of the people ultimately prevails. The will of the people cannot be denied. It can be thwarted. It can be frustrated for a day. It can be thwarted and frustrated for a week, for a month, even for years. But, under our system of democracy, it cannot be thwarted, it cannot be frustrated and it cannot be denied for more than three years. After three years, and an election, the will of the people ultimately will prevail.

That is the true folly of this package of legislation: that a government which fibbed to the Australian people is legislating a package that it said it would not. The government is insisting on putting that legislation through this place, even though it knows the people's will will be expressed at the next election, even though it knows that at the election the people will make it clear that they do not want this legislation—even though they know that an incoming coalition government would repeal that legislation. Even despite its knowledge of all those points, the government is determined to put this package through. The government is determined to wreak havoc on the Australian economy, determined to hurt business, determined to hurt families—and we will not facilitate that happening in any way, shape or form.