Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

We should not be surprised that a government that cannot run a budget surplus, cannot control our borders and cannot administer a pink batts scheme without people being killed and houses being burnt down cannot run the Senate either. The motion moved by the Manager of Government Business tells us three things about this government: first, the government is untrustworthy; second, the government has no legislative agenda; and, third, the government is administratively incompetent.

Let us turn to those things in detail—first, that the government is untrustworthy. On 13 June, just a few days ago, I was provided with a letter from the Leader of the Government in this place, Senator the Hon. Chris Evans. He said, in part:

The government has a number of key appropriation and budget related bills which require passage before 1 July 2012. I have attached a list of these bills for your consideration.

That list numbered 55 bills—55 bills which, in the Leader of the Government in the Senate's own language, are 'key appropriation and budget related bills'. If ever the people of Australia needed to be told that those opposite are ex trade union bosses, there is a classic example. We have the classic example of the ambit claim—the ambit claim that 55 bills have to be rammed through within this sitting fortnight. Then yesterday we were given two motions, one dealing with 30 bills and another with nine bills. So what happened to the 55 bills that were 'key appropriation and budget related bills'? Depending on what the Greens allow Labor to do, the list could collapse from 55 right down to nine. Somehow the Greens have acquiesced to motion No. 1 rather than motion No. 2 and, as a result, under motion No.1 we have, I think, 34 bills, some of which have now already been passed.

This is a classic case of the Labor Party making a big statement, coming in with an ambit claim and then saying, 'Aren't we really being reasonable, because we've taken 20 bills off the list?' That is not reasonable; that is dishonest. To suggest that those pieces of legislation were 'key' and had to be passed by 1 July and then meekly take off about 20 of those bills indicates that they were not key bills in the first place and did not require passage before 1 July 2012. But why should that surprise us? This is the same government that went to the Australian people saying 'there will be no carbon tax'. This is the same government that said they would not seek to change the definition of marriage. And so it goes on and on. This is a government that is untrustworthy.

With this motion to ram through all these bills, very important accountability measures that the Senate has had in place, on its books, for years and years will be discarded, including opportunities such as the consideration of government documents—documents that deal with literally billions of dollars of government expenditure that come before this place for discussion. Courtesy of the Greens-Labor alliance, these documents will be tabled but we will be denied the opportunity of discussing them properly and ensuring accountability for these huge sums of taxpayers' money.

Let us recall that, after the 2010 election, we were promised by the Australian Greens and the country Independent that parliamentary processes would no longer be abused but be allowed to take their course, that they would allow for transparency and accountability. Indeed, the Prime Minister herself said the government would 'let the sun shine in'. Well, guillotining legislation through this place and denying the opposition the opportunity to discuss government documents is not about transparency; it is not about accountability. Matters of public interest has been wiped out as well, so private members' time to discuss matters that are of genuine public importance to our constituencies has been denied us; it has been shut down. We have been shut out, and it is not to be discussed. And how is the Labor government able to do this? Because the Australian Greens have said so. What an embarrassment for any self-respecting government to have to come into this place and say, 'We've got a management issue; we've got motion No. 1 if the Greens like us today and, just in case they don't like us today, we've also got a backup motion, No. 2, that only lists nine bills.' So it clearly shows us—and no wonder; the government is so administratively incompetent—it is the Greens that are dictating what Labor are allowed to do.

Of course, that is why we have a carbon tax—because the Greens insisted on it and the Australian Labor Party, in breach of their promise, succumbed to it. That is why we are debating gay marriage—because the Greens insisted on it and the Labor Party succumbed to it, in breach of their election promise. And so it goes on and on with this government. It is the Greens that are dictating not only the policy of this government but also how matters dealt with in this place.

I say to those opposite, because I know that there are many who share my view on this: the more the Labor Party are identified with the Greens, the more the Labor Party vote haemorrhages. When I say 'the Labor Party vote', I am mindful of the fact that we have a Democratic Labor Party senator in this place and of course I am not directing my comments to him. But the more the Labor Party are beholden to the Greens, the more the Labor Party vote haemorrhages. From a coalition point of view, that in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. But it is a bad thing when policy and the administration of this place are being dictated by that small wedge of nine Greens senators being able to wag the Labor Party dog and, as a result, together determine the outcome of Senate proceedings.

There was some criticism when the Australian people, in their kindness, gave the coalition the privilege of having the numbers in the Senate from 2004 to 2007. During that time, I remind those opposite, especially the Greens, they railed and rallied against the coalition having control because so many bills were being rammed through the Senate without proper accountability. Let me remind Senator Milne and the Australian Greens: in those three years under the coalition, only 36 bills were so guillotined. As a result of today's motion, since the Green-Labor alliance have taken control of the Senate, over 110 bills will have been guillotined and by the time the full three-year term expires, we could well expect that to be 200 bills on the current rate of guillotining. As a result of this, people can come to the conclusion that a coalition controlled Senate is a much safer bet for proper parliamentary accountability and scrutiny than a Green-Labor alliance controlled Senate. What we have seen is abuse of power by the Greens. During the Howard government, the Greens said to the electorate, 'What an abuse of process to guillotine bills through this place'—36 bills, how horrendous! But under this government it is 110 and, by the end of the term, it will be 200 bills being guillotined, so you see a wonderful democratic process at work here! Do you know what the difference is? It is that the Greens voted for these guillotines. Whether it is accountable and transparent depends on Senator Milne and the Greens agreeing with the guillotine. If she happens to disagree with the guillotine, it is an abuse of process.

The Australian people are more intelligent than not to see through this nonsense from the Australian Greens and, might I add, the country Independents, and Messrs Windsor and Oakeshott need to take responsibility for this as well. They promised that there would be accountability, that there would be transparency, that they would not allow the government to run roughshod over parliamentary process. Yet here they are maintaining, as they do constantly, a guilty silence about the guillotine process being abused in this place, as it is day after day by the Green-Labor alliance with whom the country Independents are in cahoots. There is no wonder that those two country Independents are so anxious to see the government serve their full term. They will not be serving another term because the electorates are a wake-up to the government and the Australian people will cast their judgment on the Australian Greens and the Labor Party on election day. By the end of this term, the Greens-ALP alliance—if they go for their full three years—will have used the guillotine for the most unprecedented number of bills ever in the history of the Senate, to a factor of six times more than under the coalition. I simply repeat: the Australian people should think very carefully at the next Senate election because a vote for the Greens is a vote for the Labor Party. A Green-Labor alliance will be six times more likely to guillotine matters through this place, without due parliamentary process and without due accountability.

Let me refer to one bill of which I have carriage, the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2012, the one that is trying to clean up the mess after the member for Dobell, Craig Thomson.