Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contradict much of what Senator Cash has just contributed to the chamber. Once again we have scare tactics—'Let's go out and scare people as much as we can. Let's inflame the conversations that might be had around the water cooler. Let's not talk about the measures that this government has actually implemented since it has been in government. Let's just keep on the very negative track that we have taken since we went into opposition. We can keep talking about the negative aspects. We can refer to people as being "illegal" when arriving in boats. We can talk about this, but we do not have to always talk about the facts.'

We know that those opposite seem to refer to The Australian on a regular basis. That is where they get their research material from when it comes to question time and tactics. I can understand that if you are as bereft of talent as they are on that side, that is probably what you have to do. I would just like to refer to Admiral Chris Barrie, former Chief of the Defence Force, and what he had to say on the opposition's policy of 'Stop the boats. Tow them back.' We can see Mr Abbott in his speedos swimming out to the boats and saying, 'Stop, stop. Don't come any further. You have to go back.' How ridiculous. I wonder how many of those people on the other side have actually spoken to any of the men and women in the Australian Navy who were put in that position in the past under the Howard government. How many have you actually spoken to? I have spoken to them. I have relatives in the Navy. They have been very, very emotional circumstances in which they have found themselves. That is not motivation for going into the Australian Navy. They are not there to make the decisions that the government should be making by having good policies like we have.

I will just come back to some comments that Admiral Chris Barrie made. He said: 'You can imagine that the opposition in government might be able to secure an arrangement with Indonesia. It might be possible for two armed forces to work together to execute some sort of policy. What worries me is that we have not got that far and we are making statements about what we are going to do without the agreement of the government of Indonesia. I connected the dots on this. When I look at the numbers that are starting to arrive in boats now, I wonder to myself if this is connected to the 14 September election date. Furthermore, it puts our people in the Navy, Border Protection Command and Customs in a very difficult situation—being, if you like, between the jaws of dealing compassionately with these people who want to come to Australia and policy being driven by people who frankly really do not want to see the problems for what they are. Putting our commanders and ships' companies in that situation, I think, is a terrible position for us to be in.'

He is quite right. It is a terrible position for us to be in. But, once again, when it comes to question time, we have those on the opposition resorting to scare tactics, trying to talk up the negativity that they are renowned for. They do not ask questions about the economy and how strong it is. They are not asking questions about the government's job plan. They do not come in here and ask any questions about reform in aged care and the benefits that that will bring to older Australians. They are not talking about the groundbreaking NDIS and the better quality of life that that is going to bring to those with disability and the better employment opportunities for those same people. Mr Deputy President, you yourself would know of the great benefit there is going to be for young Tasmanians with the pilot project that has been launched in our home state of Tasmania. These are the issues that this government has tackled—the hard decisions—after 11½ very long years of inaction from those opposite on the big issues.

The NBN was talked about in question time today. We are all of course concerned about the asbestos that has been found. But the opposition will not acknowledge the benefit that the NBN is going to bring to Tasmania and to the rest of the country, particularly rural Australia. Rural and regional residents are going to have the same capacity as those in the larger metropolitan cities. Here we are in the final two weeks of this parliament and what are they doing? Once again it is scare, scare, scare. (Time expired)