Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

What I would say to my good friend and valued colleague the senator from the great state of Victoria is, don't believe everything you read in the newspaper. The other thing I would say is that, unlike the Labor Party, the coalition is a vibrant party where we're having policy debate about how we can best ensure that we continue to bring down electricity prices and that we continue to improve energy reliability across Australia, because that is important for families and it is important for business. It's important for our competitiveness as an economy moving forward.

That is in sharp contrast with the way the Labor leader, Mr Shorten, approaches these things. He's so scared of his own caucus, he's not even prepared to take a plan for higher taxes on business to his caucus. In the last few days we've found out why, because one Labor member and senator after the other is popping out and speaking out against him. We've got the member for Bass—