Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the MPI today. Division, instability and illegitimacy are characteristics that no government wants to be associated with. The division amongst the Liberal Party on energy policy is just one example of how disunity, coupled with a leader who lacked the courage of conviction, can cripple a government. The PM made a wrong decision and paid the ultimate price. However, we should not forget that it is not just the decisions of government that affect Australians; it is the decisions of all of us in this place. We have a responsibility to ensure that we are aware of the consequences of those decisions.

That brings me to division on this side of the chamber in relation to the TPP. Labor is voting for the TPP enabling legislation, in contrast to its national platform. It's going to allow ISDS provisions to be included in the TPP agreement. It is also going to allow the waiving of labour market testing. They are going to do that knowing they could stop it. Centre Alliance, One Nation and the Greens are prepared to vote it down and only need Labor to stop those cancerous provisions being in that particular bill. They know they can stop it, but they have no courage of conviction. That has led to the same situation that Senator Paterson was describing before, where we now see, inside the Labor Party, significant division and we are starting to see leaks popping out through media channels. That, of course, is exactly what happened on the other side of the chamber.

So my message is to both the government and the Labor Party. The government should seriously consider introducing an emissions intensity scheme to deliver industry and consumers significant reductions in power prices. The Australian Labor Party should seriously reconsider its decision to wave through the TPP without any changes to the ISDS clauses and with labour market testing waived. They need to remember who their supporter base is.