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

Through the chair, of course, Mr President. He went on to say, through the chair:

They haven't got any alternative ideas.

That is what Senator Leyonhjelm said, Mr President: 'They haven't got any alternative ideas.' He said:

There's two years to go to an election ... so they say there's plenty of time to put forward their policies.

And he went on to say:

It's kind of like the old joke about going to the dentist and you reach up under his jacket and you grab him by his delicate parts and you squeeze a little bit and say we're not going to hurt each other are we.

Through you, Mr President, Senator Leyonhjelm said:

My advice to Tony Abbott—

Mr Tony Abbott, but Senator Leyonhjelm called him Tony Abbott—

is, let's not hurt each other.

The fundamental point of this very eloquent explanation is that this government is a shambles. We see it from the head down. We see it in the way the Minister for Foreign Affairs stormed into the Prime Minister's office just this week and, I am quoting a Liberal party person, 'she went bananas.' Why did she go bananas? Because the Prime Minister's office had briefed the media that she was not up to the job of defending Australia's interests at Lima and needed a chaperone. She needed Mr Robb to attend. Senator Macdonald is on his feet again because he has lost the plot, as usual.