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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Small and Family Business, Skills and Vocational Education (Senator Cash) and the Minister for Finance and the Public Service (Senator Cormann) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to the execution of a search warrant on Australian Workers' Union premises.

Let me start where Senator Cormann finished. He indicated that the Prime Minister had confidence in Senator Cash, and then he went on to say that she was an outstanding minister. Let me say that if the Prime Minister has confidence in this failed minister, it's another demonstration that the Prime Minister we have in office now is not up to the job—not up to the job! As far as Senator Cash being an outstanding minister goes, let me remind you, Madam Deputy President, of some of the positions that have developed under Senator Cash in her various ministerial portfolios.

Firstly, she was the minister responsible for the ABCC when the Commissioner of the ABCC, Nigel Hadgkiss—another disgraced public servant—was forced to resign because he breached the laws that he was supposed to uphold. Senator Cash defended this disgraced public servant. This minister allowed a position to continue where, after it became public knowledge that he had breached the act that he was overseeing, she allowed him to continue in that position. And then when he was finally forced to resign, what did she do? She authorised, basically, a golden handshake for him to go away. That's the outstanding position that we heard from Senator Cormann in talking about Senator Cash.

Senator Cash is a disgraced minister. She is an incompetent minister—