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

No, Senator Cameron has not finished. I'm not surprised that Senator Macdonald can't concentrate long enough to even know what's happening in the Senate. It's no wonder that the people who appoint and support the senators in Queensland don't think there is enough confidence in him to continue for another term in the Senate. If you can't even keep your mind on what's happening, I suppose that might have been one of the reasons that you got the punt by coalition members, the LNP in Queensland.

I'll go back to what I was saying. The shadow Treasury spokesperson, Chris Bowen, has said that he is about restoring the independence and non-partisan nature of the Treasury. What could be more important than an independent and non-partisan Treasury? Yet this government, which their own PM describes as 'muppets', are in there destroying the independence of the Treasury, destroying the independence of the Public Service. I've only given you some examples. The disgraced Nigel Hadgkiss, the disgraced John Lloyd, the disgraced Chris Enright are in there as partisan political players for the coalition, attacking their political opponents and using government institutions to attack their political opponents. This is a government whose time has long gone, like Senator Macdonald—his time has come and he is going. He couldn't even go on his own terms. He had to be chipped out, thrown out by the electorate of the Liberal National Party in Queensland—a disgraceful government; time's up.