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

Senator Macdonald, you can intervene all you like, but this is a minister who has just got no idea about how she should operate and what the position is that she should be undertaking to tell the truth in this place. On at least seven occasions before question time she clearly refused to answer questions about her behaviour when it comes to her ministerial responsibilities. That went on again and again during this question time.

Here we have a minister where two of her senior staff are now clearly implicated—clearly indicating that they breached criminal law in this country—and yet Senator Cash comes in here and tries to wave it all away, based on public interest immunity. It is an absolute nonsense. This minister needs to tell the truth. She needs to tell the truth and come clean in this place. She needs to go to court tomorrow and tell the truth, because she has continually refused to do that in this place. She's not bad when she's up there haranguing union officials for breaching right-of-entry provisions, yet her staff are engaged in criminal activity on her watch. She is hopeless, she is incompetent and she should resign. That's what Senator Cash should do. She should resign. She is a disgrace to the ministry of any government. She is a disgrace even in this disgraceful government—a government that is an absolute rabble.

Government senators interjecting—

This minister epitomises the rabble that this government is—a government that is on its knees, a government that's on its way out. This is a government that is incompetent, a government that would cover up. It's spending millions of dollars of taxpayers' money covering up for Senator Cash's incompetence and deceitful approach on this issue. If she won't go, then the Prime Minister should grow a backbone and sack her.