Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to follow Senator Watt's comments and just make this point. When you have the Leader of Government in the Senate being loose with the truth in question time, being given the opportunity to come in here and demonstrate the accountability that our democracy demands from ministers, to demonstrate as the leader—the examples to his frontbenchers—what do we get? We get more measly words, more tricky words—a bit loose with the truth—and he doesn't fess up to the fact that he got it wrong. We would have more regard for ministers on that side if they were actually prepared to come in here and say, 'I correct the record'. That's what democracy requires. But even from Senator Cormann, who otherwise is generally somebody who does understand this democratic principle, we get more words where he's saying, 'I didn't actually say that,' when we know he did. In the same question time we have Senator Colbeck refusing to acknowledge what 'after tax' means. We have Senator Reynolds saying that a change from three to five days isn't a change. This is a mockery. What it demonstrates is the rot at the top of the Morrison government, where the Prime Minister is loose with the truth. You're all being infected by it and you are bringing it into question time, which is a travesty of what it should be in our democracy. Senator Cormann, you should be ashamed of yourself and you should have fronted up.