Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. Senator Johnston attacks the workforce. One of the other things that the worker from the ASC said yesterday in his press conference was that he would have to go home last night feeling pretty gutted and say to his family that the minister thinks he is worthless for the job that he is doing. That is what he said last night.

This minister is a serial offender. As we know, this is a minister who does not have the confidence of the Prime Minister's office. He does not have the confidence of the Prime Minister. He does not have the confidence of senators sitting over there, who have repudiated him this morning. And all of this is demonstrated by the fact that, when the minister proposed a team that he wanted to work up the white paper, the Prime Minister's office intervened and said: 'You're not having them. Here's who's going to prepare the white paper.' We know that the Prime Minister's office has sidelined the minister when it comes to the submarine contract and the tender process. It is not Minister Johnston's personal staff who are flying to Japan to meet with the Japanese government, to meet with the Japanese ministers, to talk about Japanese submarines; it is the defence adviser in the Prime Minister's office. Everybody in this chamber knows what is going on.