Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an honour for me to speak after a very fine speech by Senator Kroger and also to highlight how the Labor Party will not accept the decisions of the Australian public as expressed at the last election. I want to emphasise the statistics Senator Kroger cited: 28 hours of the Senate's time spent on government business and three times that amount taken up by non-government business. The Labor Party are quite clearly living in the past. They refuse to accept the verdict of the Australian public. We have been trying to get through discussion on two bills on the major policy issues that the coalition took to the last election. One of those is abolishing the carbon tax. As an aside, I remind everyone that at the 2010 election the Labor Party promised never to introduce a carbon tax, so they should be voting with us in order to honour their original promise. It was quite clear to everybody that if we won the election we would abolish the carbon tax, and people voted for us on that basis. However, the Labor Party will not even allow the matter to be put to a vote, let alone get on with other business that was clearly given to the coalition in a mandate.

In her contribution, Senator Moore made reference to the fact that there had been some discussion about how busy the Senate committees are. She may have been referring to what I said, because I did raise that twice yesterday. I point out that, on one hand, the Labor Party are saying, 'We need to extend this because there are too many committees,' but, on the other hand, they vote with the Greens to set up yet another inquiry into the recent incident on Manus Island. This is the fifth inquiry into Manus Island. I see the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, overnight, has been very critical about a committee of the Australian parliament looking into something that occurred in Papua New Guinea sovereignty, on a Papua New Guinean island, and which the Papua New Guinean authorities are fully investigating. The Labor Party are adding to the work of the committees through this useless inquiry into the incident on Manus Island—an incident that, as I said, is already being investigated by five other properly resourced investigative teams.

It is simply part of the Greens-Labor Party political campaign against the work of the government in stopping the boats. Stopping the boats was, again, a policy that the coalition took to the federal election and, overwhelmingly, it was a policy endorsed by the Australian voter. Yet again, the Labor Party and the Greens cannot accept the verdict of the Australian voter and continue to frustrate the government at every turn in its determination to protect Australia's borders.

If the Labor Party are so concerned, as I am, about useless inquiries being set up by this chamber, they should put their foot down and say to the Greens that they are not going to willy-nilly, without any care or consideration, support their proposals for yet another inquiry into Manus Island. That is just one example I raise. There are too many committee inquiries being done. The essential work that has to be done by this chamber, which is looking at the legislation that comes through, should take precedence. That should be the work that takes the time and exercises the minds of senators on those committees. You do not delay important legislation. In so doing, you are rejecting the view of the Australian public and stopping the government's legislative program, which it needs to operate.