Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly would not wish to reflect on any senator in this place. All I am doing in my contributions is outlining the backbiting, the infighting and the backstabbing that is going on in the coalition party room over the issue of submarines. In terms of defence materiel, this would be the biggest defence materiel project ever in this country.

Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting—

It is absolutely no wonder that Senator Macdonald is on his feet trying to close this debate down, because this is a huge embarrassment for an already embarrassed government, for an already incompetent government, for a government that is so arrogant that it thinks it can continue to run the rhetoric that has seen losses in Victoria and a massive change of government in Queensland—unheard of—but it still wants to run this rhetoric of sending jobs overseas and of privatisation. The public do not accept the position of the coalition in relation to these issues. It is not me and it is not the Labor Party that are accusing Senator Edwards of lying. It is the coalition's own party leadership and their own frontbench. It is not the Labor Party. In fact, we have been in here defending Senator Edwards for belatedly seeing the need to defend jobs in South Australia.

I take the view that jobs are important. The Defence Materiel Organisation can play a role in creating jobs in this country. When, under the coalition, this country has the highest unemployment rate it has had for 20 years, we need every job we can get, and we should not be handing the submarine build to the Japanese because of a captain's pick by a beleaguered Prime Minister, a Prime Minister who does not even have the confidence of his own backbench, and by a coalition government in disarray—a coalition government that is not trusted by the Australian public.