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

I'm not surprised that there's so much angst and concern amongst those sitting opposite me, because this government is in total chaos. They're at each other's throats. Every day it's another hit on the Prime Minister. Every day it's another member coming out and saying they're prepared to cross the floor. So don't lecture the Labor Party about what we should be doing; you can't get your own act together. You're a rabble of a government—always have been and always will be—and, the sooner you get to an election, the absolute better.

Senator Abetz said they want coal for manufacturing. I don't have to remind people in here that the biggest loss in manufacturing jobs in this country was when that mob over there decided they would chase the car manufacturing companies out of the country. That's what they did. So, again, don't come here with your crocodile tears about manufacturing when you have set about trying to destroy one of the most highly skilled industries in the manufacturing sector. You have destroyed it—the car industry.

Senator Abetz said they want a special focus on price. If they actually knew what was going on, the focus would be on renewables, because that is where the prices are coming down. Senator Abetz said it's a moveable feast. Here we are, the Prime Minister's signature policy—apart from handing $80 billion to the big end of town—is this moveable feast, the NEG. He said they want more dispatchable power and he said this was a decision of great moment. We agree: this is a decision of great moment. This is a decision that will save energy prices for the future. If we go down the path that the rebels want to go, the people that are determined to pull Prime Minister Turnbull down, if we go down their path then we will end up with more expensive power. Senator Abetz said there have been long discussions with Minister Frydenberg over the weekend. Senator Abetz was asked by David Spears, 'Do you have faith in Mr Turnbull?' Well, there was no response in the affirmative; no response from the former cabinet Minister. He just said that it would be a cabinet decision and he wasn't interested in what one person's view might be. He wasn't interested in what the Prime Minister's view was. What a joke! A former cabinet Minister, former Prime Minister and former government ministers lining up to pull Malcolm Turnbull down. Prime Minister Turnbull is being targeted day in, day out. He said that he had serious reservations about the NEG, that he lived in hope that the NEG could be delivered, and that the majority—because this government only had a majority of one, then the Prime Minister had to satisfy everybody. I think it is quite clear that this Prime Minister has to satisfy the climate sceptics, the climate deniers, the troglodytes in the coalition.

We've hard this story before with this government, haven't we? Remember back in 2009, when the then Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, said, 'I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am.' This is why this Prime Minister is in so much trouble. Ever since then he has waltzed away from that position. He leads a party that is not committed at all to dealing with climate change. He leads a party where the sceptics and the deniers determine the policy. The situation that arises from that is that we will have more expensive power in the future. We have gone from one approach to dealing with climate change to another. We've got a Prime Minister who is so malleable that he'll put up one position and then another. All he's interested in is staying in power, and yet the malcontents—that was the heading back in the Four Corners report in 2009: 'Malcolm and the Malcontents'—the malcontents are back. They are going to do the same to this Prime Minister as they did to him when he was the Leader of the Opposition. They are going to pull him down. I don't think that would be a bad thing—because he has been a weak Prime Minister, a vacillating Prime Minister, a jellyback of a Prime Minister. He has not delivered what he said he would do. He has got no values, no principles, that he wouldn't sacrifice to maintain his job.

Back in 2009—what we are getting now is like a re-run—a range of Liberals and Nationals told Four Corners that they don't believe climate change is primarily man-made. The earth is not actually warming, we still have rain falling. We can go outside and not cook. If the question is 'Do people believe or not believe that human beings are the main cause of climate warming?' then I would say a majority don't accept that position. That is what senior Liberals and senior National Party members were saying back in 2009—and even though we have seen all the evidence of climate change they are still maintaining this denialist position. It is an absolute tragedy that this country cannot get its act together to deal with what is the biggest threat that we are facing, and that is the capacity for our kids and our grandkids to live in an atmosphere, a climate, that is conducive to growth and decent conditions in this country.

And now to the latest we have: in The Australiantoday, Simon Benson, no friend of the Labor Party—this is the Murdoch press—said that 'federal government ministers are coming under pressure from colleagues to resign over the National Energy Guarantee in a counter-campaign by rebel backbenchers that risks further eroding Malcolm Turnbull's authority as his attempts to win the support of wavering coalition MPs appear to be failing'. The heading is 'Rebels urge ministers to quit over National Energy Guarantee'. We have heard that story before. When that starts coming about, you know what's on: Malcolm Turnbull's time as Prime Minister is terminal. That is the reality.

And more than one senior government source told The Australian that Keith Pitt, the assistant minister to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, was considering resigning from the frontbench over his opposition to the NEG. It's on! That's what's happening. Prime Minister Turnbull's authority is being challenged. And The Australian goes on to say that 'senior government sources, last night, effectively conceded that the coalition would require Bill Shorten's support to get the NEG passed in both houses'. You lot need the Labor Party to get this through. That is the reality of where you are at. The Australian says that 'the legislation is due to be introduced before a Tuesday decision by the Labor caucus on whether the opposition will support it'. If you rabble of a government, you pathetic mob, can't get your act together, why should I go to the Labor caucus and support this? You don't support it, and your ministers are talking about resigning over this policy. What a joke you lot are! The story says The Australian was told that 'frontbenchers known to be opposed to the NEG, but bound by the ministerial code to vote with the government, were under pressure to step down and cross the floor and support rebel MPs including Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister, Andrew Hastie, Kevin Andrews, Eric Abetz and Barry O'Sullivan'—and on and on it goes. This is a government in terminal condition.

There is another article today—'George Christensen hits Malcolm Turnbull with list of demands over NEG'. It's by Joe Kelly, another News Limited journalist. He says:

George Christensen has publicly committed to crossing the floor of parliament to vote against Malcolm Turnbull's national energy guarantee in its current form, ahead of the government putting legislation into the lower house early next week.

He then goes on to say that Mr Christensen has 'issued a list of demands to the Prime Minister' and that they include 'the creation of a new clean coal fund'. I'm a former power station worker. I was a maintenance fitter at Liddell Power Station for seven years, and I can tell you now there is no such thing as clean coal, absolutely no such thing. Mr Christensen also wants 'a cut in the NEG's emissions reduction target from 26 to 17 per cent'. To the young kids sitting up in the viewing areas now: you won't have the same climate conditions we have had over our lifetime, because this government and this Prime Minister don't have the courage to take the troglodytes on. That's the reality.

The article goes on to say that he wants 'the competition watchdog to keep AGL's Liddell coal-fired power plant operating in New South Wales beyond its planned 2022 closure date'. I worked at Liddell Power Station. I started in about 1975. Liddell had its problems then because the coal in that area has a high ash content. It rips the boiler tubes apart on an ongoing basis. It's a costly, outdated power plant. And yet this mob would try and keep that piece of junk going for more years to satisfy those who are opposed to dealing with climate change and the issues that are important.

The article then goes on to say:

Keith Pitt is understood to be considering standing down from the frontbench …

It says that there's a demand to adopt 'all 56 recommendations of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's recent report'. It quotes Mr Christensen as saying:

If I am being asked to vote for an emissions reduction target based on the Paris agreement, I would vote against it.

And it says that Mr Turnbull has been holding crisis meetings all the time with South Australian Liberal MP Tony Pasin and with Lucy Wicks, the member for Robertson.

This is a government that doesn't get it. This is a government that is in civil war internally. This is a government that has no ideas, no plans and no hope for the future of the Australian people. This is a government that should pack its bags now, go to an election and let the people decide, as they did in the by-elections, to throw this mob out and get a decent government in.