Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw that which is on the Hansard. Senator Kitching has engaged in personal denigration of other female senators in this place—not one of them but two of them—and of course she has also engaged in denigrating the Registered Organisations Commission officials, and the list goes on. What this contribution by Senator Kitching has been all about, unfortunately, is seeking to attack and make a point out of something which does nothing for the cohesion of Australian society.

I am sure that every senator in this place condemns those who would seek to incite violence or actually engage in violence. There is no difference between us over the aisle or across the political divide in this country, and that is why we are such a good, cohesive society. Those who seek to inflame the situation, by referring to some who engage in conduct unbecoming, do the cohesion of our nation no benefit.

This time of taking note of answers is an opportunity—especially for the opposition—to put forward to the Australian people what their vision for Australia is all about, what their plan is, what their policies are. But, instead, how do they use the time? To attack individuals. That is what happens when you've got a hapless, sad, forlorn opposition devoid of policies, devoid of a plan, devoid of a vision. What do you do? You talk about individuals. You seek to denigrate the individuals. You seek to point to some social media comment and blow it into something of great note.

The simple fact is, we on this side are committed and devoted to ensuring that Australia emerges from COVID-19 with a good, sound, strong economic recovery, as it is being overseen by our federal Treasurer. We are concentrating on jobs, job security and job development. We are looking at national resilience to ensure that Australia can withstand the withholding of supplies, be it in fuel, in medical supplies and elsewhere. National resilience is a fundamental issue. You would have thought that those opposite, who lust after the government benches, might have a reason and rationale for that desire. But no, it is just for the sake of power, and they think they can achieve that by tearing down members of the government.

The Australian people see through that. They want more substance. They don't want the personal attacks. So we as a government continue in ensuring our defence capability and our environmental stewardship. All these matters are front and centre of our considerations. Whilst the ALP continues to use question time to personally denigrate the Prime Minister, and anybody else they think they can have a cheap shot at, we get on with the business of government, economic development, security, keeping our country safe from COVID and from external threats and ensuring that we have good environmental stewardship.

They're the things that the people of Australia elect us to do. That is what the Australian people want us to concentrate on, not to engage in the personal attacks and partisan politics that, quite frankly, aren't even appropriate for undergraduate student politics. I invite the ALP to reconsider their approach to public policy debate in this chamber. (Time expired)