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

There is not much point in anything you say, but you still do it a lot! I have to admire it. This is a government that is bereft. Remember when Mr Turnbull became the Prime Minister? He could have said, 'Good governance starts today.' But, no—he actually started off with, 'Isn't it a wonderful time to be alive? Australians are governed by me.' It is heart-warming to see. This is a government that is completely and utterly cannibalising itself from the inside. There is no greater demonstration of that than when the finance minister of this country, on national television, dumps on the Treasurer and will not back him up. Senator Cormann, that is your job. Your job is to back up the Treasurer. Your job is to support him. It sort of comes with the territory of being the finance minister and the Treasurer. The simple fact that you cut him loose today says everything about the shambolic government that you are involved in.

Net debt went over $1 trillion today—congratulations! You like to mock Senator Wong. You have more debt than anybody else in history, Senator Cormann. You are the high-debt finance minister. You are never going to deliver a budget surplus while you are finance minister. That is the badge of honour that you will wear. You are never going to do it while you are the finance minister. You will never deliver it, and Senator Morrison will never deliver a surplus in this country either—it is Mr Morrison; we do not want to promote him.

Let's be clear: this is a government that has lost the plot.