Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the contribution of my good friend Senator Edwards from South Australia, who has been working with us quite closely on the reports our committee has been doing on the future of Australian shipbuilding. I note that he is saying a very different thing in this chamber than what he said when he was out there talking to the South Australia media.

It is time for the defence minister to go. Uniformed members of the ADF say it is time for him to go. His former long-serving staff say that it is time for him to go. The party backbench says it is time for him to go. And today we learned that the assistant minister says that David Johnston is already gone. The Financial Review scuttlebutts have duly reported a tip-off today that Assistant Minister for Defence, Stuart Robert, described Johnston as 'a goner' within earshot of everyone in business class on a Virgin flight out of Canberra last week. He did not even feel the need to bother to whisper it.

Also speaking up for everyone to hear is Johnston's former staffer, Russell Stranger. After more than a dozen years of service as a senior adviser, Mr Stranger has unloaded on his former boss, who he now describes as 'toothless' and 'incidental'. Mr Stranger has spent 12 years propping up the senator from WA, but the Australian people have taken less than 12 months to figure out that this minister is a dud. Certainly, the Prime Minister knows his minister needs to go. In Russell Stranger's words:

Senator Johnston has been relegated by the Prime Minister’s office to a role as an incidental minister …

This is from a man who knows Senator Johnston only too well.

Senator Johnston is a sheep in sheep's clothing. By his own admission, he has nothing to add. When asked by the press why he skipped a National Security Committee meeting in October he replied:

I wasn’t going to add too much …

These are the senator's own words. I could not agree with Senator Johnston more!

But the defence minister's word is not always reliable. No, we must never take him at his word. We cannot take this government, that will go down in history for its falsehoods and as led by a Prime Minister who has repeatedly told mistruths to Australia, at its word. Senator Johnston was also less than truthful when he promised to build submarines in Adelaide.

Senator Johnston is not just an accident waiting to happen; he is an accident that will not stop happening. In this place almost exactly one week ago, his slur against the men and women of the ASC left his own party members dazed and confused. He knows the Liberal Party senators from South Australia, be they Senator Birmingham, Senator Edwards, Senator Fawcett or Senator Ruston, have spoken out against the proposals that he has been floating.

Senator Johnston's own pay deal for our defence forces on the eve of Christmas holidays has shown us just how poorly he values the work of our uniformed personnel. Today, he tried to claim again during question time that he has a great relationship with our defence forces. But, Mr Deputy President, can you imagine how embarrassed they must be by his bumbling, mumbling and stumbling? Prime Minister Tony Abbott will not even stand beside Senator Johnston. Last week, the Prime Minister was spotted in his courtyard on Monday, rubbing his hands and begging for forgiveness, with his own defence minister nowhere to be seen. We say: enough! Bring this sad mess to a sad end. What on earth is Senator Johnston waiting for? Christmas? The New Year? Another crisis? It is simply time for him to go.

The soldiers, the sailors, the airmen and the civilians who toil to keep us safe every day—these men and women deserve better. I say to the Prime Minister: it is time to take action on Senator Johnston. Listen to your own backbenchers who think it is time for him to go. Listen to the uniformed members of the ADF who think it is time for him to go. Listen to Senator Johnston's former staff who clearly think it is time for him to go. The assistant minister said it loud enough for everyone in business class to hear last week, that he is a goner. Nobody deserves Senator Johnston, not even Tony Abbott.