Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've been in this place for coming up to 18 months and it's been a great honour to serve the great people of Western Australia. But I think I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've heard serious and legitimate questions from those opposite. Their questions are covered in smear and innuendo; very few of their questions go to a point of significance for the Australian people. Instead, time and again we see those opposite putting spin on particular topics and subjects to score a political point. I think there is nothing more shameful than coming into this place and trying to score a political point on something that is very serious for the people of this nation, particularly those who live in bushfire-prone areas.

This line of attack is typical of Labor. They think that blindly committing to spend money can solve a problem, with flashy promises and attack lines that really have very little substance. Labor's record on firefighting and land management is actually not very good. Senator Brockman spoke about the importance of understanding what's involved in dealing with bushfires and making sure that we are prepared for bushfires, but Labor members and their friends in the Greens continually hamstring attempts to perform adequate back-burning. We're seeing this in states controlled by Labor and where there's a real Greens influence. In 2015 and 2016, we saw disgraceful attempts by unions to unionise the volunteers of the CFA. That demonstrates that Labor sees bushfire fighters as just another political opportunity to boost union membership. Labor's record on politicising disaster relief is longer and stronger than their history of disaster management.

Senator Murray Watt, the shadow minister for emergency management, only last week accepted an invitation to have a briefing by emergency management experts on our seasonal preparation. I understand that meeting will happen later today, but today Senator Watt moved an MPI on this very subject. He asked questions and then took note of those answers without giving himself the opportunity to have the briefing.