Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This matter of public importance put forward by the Labor Party is titled 'The very mediocre performance of the Turnbull government'. Now, I think calling the Turnbull government mediocre is giving them too much credit, frankly. But I did not rise to speak about the performance of the Turnbull government; it speaks for itself. What I want to talk about is the performance of this parliament. I am not going to disagree that this is a government that is ignoring the big issues that confront us as a nation, but we have to do better than this. It is this parliament that runs the risk of not just being mediocre but also being a laughing stock if we do not start challenging the big issues that lie before us as a nation.

So, here is a reality check, people. We have a looming crisis in Australian democracy, and until we take heed of that we are going to see further alienation and division within our community, and that is bad for good government. There was a survey just prior to the 2016 federal election from the University of Canberra. It showed that less than half of Australians are happy with the performance of our politicians. The survey from the Scanlon Foundation, Mapping social cohesion, is very interesting reading. Have a look at the section on trust and democracy. A whole range of issues are listed regarding people's concerns about life here in Australia. The second most important, after management of the economy, is the quality of government and of politicians. That is the second-ranked issue of concern for the Australian community.

And we are starting to give reason for Donald Horne's saying that this is a country run by second-rate people, because the performance of this parliament has been appalling—absolutely appalling. In the Scanlon Foundation's survey the proportion of people who think we need to tinker around the edges, make some minor change to improve our democracy, is falling. But the number of people who want to see major reform to Australian democracy is on the rise, and it is no wonder when you see silly debates like this.

How about we have a debate about matters of public importance that really matter to people? How about we have a debate about the corrosive influence of political donations? How about we have a matter of public importance about the establishment of a national anticorruption watchdog? That would be a good start. People are angry—and they have a right to be angry—because they have lost faith in the people who govern them. Yet here we are. We have had a Greens proposal to establish a national anticorruption watchdog consistently voted down by both major parties.

People are angry that we have the great challenge that lies ahead of us as a nation—that is, tackling dangerous global warming—and what are we doing? We have pathetic targets and we do not even have a plan to reach those targets. We have governments that continue to chase away foreign investment and job creation in the renewable energy sector, which is a pathway for new employment for people in regional communities—nothing of that. We witness those record breaking temperatures year on year on year and see the tragic images from the Arctic, where the sea ice is melting, and yet what do we have? We have the government—with, it must be said, the support of the Labor Party—slash funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. More than half a billion dollars was taken from it.

People are angry that there is a growing gap between the rich and poor. Property prices are through the roof, yet the government is not prepared to take on issues like negative gearing and capital gains tax reform. We have wealth concentrated within a privileged few, yet we see the two major parties, with the support of One Nation, get together to give a tax cut to the people who need it least—the richest 20 per cent of Australians get a tax cut while, at the same time, we are cutting services for ordinary people.

Just yesterday we were told that we do not have time to have a debate about important issues like the US alliance and Australia's national security. What does the alliance mean for us now? How can we better forge an independent path into the future? No; what we see are silly little games played out in this chamber. We had a sitting convened until 3 am in the morning to discuss an issue that no-one understands or, to be frank, cares about, except for the ideological warriors from this government.

No; it is not the government that is mediocre. I think that is giving them too much credit. It is this parliament that is mediocre. It is the parliament that needs to be reformed. How about we focus our energy on something much more important? Our democracy is broken. People have lost faith in the people who govern us—and it is about time we fix that.