Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I love it when the Labor Party come in here so incredibly frustrated at the idea that a member of this parliament can have a conscience. I love the way the Labor Party seems to want to constantly remind people that when you vote Labor the opinion of that person on that ballot paper is irrelevant: they must run with the mob. In the modern-day Labor Party the lobby is increasingly controlled by those outside parliament. Since the Labor Party adopted the binding caucus, it has successfully pushed people away. It pushed away people like Joe Lyons, who went on to become Prime Minister in that case, and people who felt that they were not going to be controlled by forces external to this parliament, that they were not going to be controlled and have their consciences overridden by a mere simple majority of factional bullies in one party room.

Senator Moore betrays the fact that members of the Labor Party cannot understand the role of individual conscience when she refers to our party room as a caucus. It is not. It never was. When Sir Robert Menzies founded the Liberal Party, the right of a Liberal Party member to cross the floor, to question party policy and to do so publicly was entrenched—and it has not been questioned. In every division of the Liberal Party around Australia a member of parliament has the right to do that. That is a right we all cherish. But the people opposite cannot comprehend it.

For the last six years in the corridors of this place, behind the President's chair or eventually in the newspaper, we knew what Labor Party members thought of their own government. We knew what Labor Party members thought of policies. They would mutter it under their breath as they crossed the chamber to vote, like drones, like sheep. But they never have the courage to stand up. Why? Because of their rules and culture. Their rules prohibit it. That allows every member opposite to absolve themselves of responsibility for their own vote. They hide behind the caucus. They hide behind the binding caucus and they hide behind the idea and say, 'Look, I'm sorry. The caucus decided it, so my vote's irrelevant.' They did that on border protection. They did it on the carbon tax. They did it when they broke their promise on the carbon tax. And they are doing it now when they vote to oppose explicit policies, such as the repeal of the carbon tax, that this government took to an election. This is a profound difference between the parties. I disagree with what Senator Macdonald said yesterday. But I defend his right as a member of my party to say it. That is a critical difference, and it is one that every Liberal will stand to protect.

Senator Moore pointed out that somehow this particular argument was inconsistent because under our policy we plan to make the payments via Centrelink. That again betrayed the weakness and the narrowness from which Labor Party members are drawn. When Labor did bring in the current paid parental scheme, we tried to amend it. When as a new parent you have to fill out all the forms at Centrelink, when Centrelink makes payments for everything from immunisation to child care to family tax benefits, why on earth when it comes to this one issue of paid parental leave would you make the small business do the paperwork? Why would you make the small business fill out an extra form and send it into Centrelink? The payment comes from Centrelink and then that payment is given by the employer doing work on MYOB on their kitchen table, mind you, to their employee on parental leave. That betrays the narrow background of those opposite. They have no concept of what it is like to run a small business. That betrays. It simply makes no sense to make that happen.

In fact, one of the things they never thought of was that because their system did not include superannuation payments, no business accounting software used by every small business in this country actually had the facility to make a payment without incurring state payroll tax liability and superannuation liability. So the software had to be redesigned. Small businesses spent hours trying to figure out why their books were not balancing, but it was because Labor's paid parental scheme forced them to incur liabilities that they did not have to pay.

We want this payment to be made through Centrelink because it is has the most efficient means to do so, because it takes an utterly unnecessary burden off the back of small business and because Centrelink already collects the data. Labor's hypocrisy on the issue of individual conscience in this place—on this policy, in particular—is well known by all.