Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution having happily been a member of the northern Australia infrastructure committee and having travelled quite extensively, particularly in health committees, across the north of this country. Invariably, no matter what policy we were interrogating, the issue of insurance for people in the north would come up. It's like they're the canary in the coalmine for the rest of the country.

I am a senator for New South Wales. Overnight, people in Lismore were once again having to evacuate because the reality of what is happening with our climate—which has been long denied by those opposite—has actually been doing its work and changing the way in which our planet is operating and the way in which we are able to live going forward.

Not everybody has insurance. Sometimes you might have just forgotten to fill out the form, but many times it's because people hit a point where they simply cannot afford to do it anymore. They weigh up the risk and the reward. Household insurance can now cost $2,000 in a non-high-risk environment. What happens when you get to the point—as has happened in northern Queensland, and I see Senator Malarndirri McCarthy here from the Northern Territory, as well as Senator Watt. They know all too well that there has been a 300 or 400 per cent increase in insurance in the north of this country? I'm delighted to see people back in the building and here in the gallery, because you know what I'm talking about.

An honourable senator: The mayor of Alice Springs is here too.

I recognise the mayor of Alice Springs here; it's great that you've joined us in the Senate. I bet that you and your council and your state government know about this issue. This government knew about this issue. It's known about this issue for three terms, for nearly 10 years, and, in just a matter of weeks, they're going to line up, and they're looking for us to re-elect them to have another crack.

Here we are at the very last day that the Senate is sitting. So urgent is this need, which has been known to the government for a decade, that they finally get the car into gear and bring a piece of legislation in here. It's beautifully titled because, with a government that's all about marketing, the title matters. Forget about the substance; it's the con job from the top—from Mr Morrison, whose character was revealed in this chamber last night by Senator Fierravanti-Wells. She knows him. The longer that guy hangs around, the more Australians are learning about him. The ultimate con artist. The ultimate marketeer. He's not a man for leadership and not a man of integrity.

This is what he has called it: Treasury Laws Amendment—well, it has got to come from the Treasury department—(Cyclone and Flood Damage Reinsurance Pool) Bill. Doesn't that sound good to people who can't afford their insurance? They think: 'Oh great! The government are going to come and rescue us. Because I can't afford $2,000, $4,000 $6,000 or $8,000—because I can't afford from $2,000 to $8,000 to insure my house—the government are charging in, albeit belatedly, on their white horse at the last minute and they're going to make it possible for me to insure my house.'

An honourable senator: But they've missed the battle.

They've missed the battle—absolutely. They've missed the battle for sure. But do you know what else? They're riding in on a horse that's a pretence. When you start look at the fine print in this piece of legislation, about who might be eligible to get some bit of assistance with their insurance, you see it shrink and shrink and shrink. That's the problem.

Senator Watt made a fantastic contribution yesterday. I also acknowledge Senator Chisholm. They fight here every day for the people of Queensland. They talked about the market failure. They talked about outsourcing of government responsibility, to make policyholders pay and pay for what has been emerging in the last several years as a failed market. I believe it was Senator Watt who drew my attention to the fact that this legislation indicates that people with the most acute cost pressures might just might get something. If you're one of those lucky few who are subject to what needs to be classified as cyclone damage—not flood damage; that's not included, although that's part of what will be implied by the marketing man who is no leader—you might get something. If you're one of those few lucky ones, at the very, very best you might get 46 per cent. That's the line that goes out from the government and that's what we hear here day in, day out: the con job. 'What's the biggest way we can gild this lily and pretend we're actually caring for the people of Australia?' It's all announcement and no delivery.

They're bringing this bill in at this point in time and, as little as it is and as little as it does, Labor will support it because people need something. They absolutely, desperately need something, and, if this is the best that this government can do, we're not going to stop the people of northern Australia getting the relief that they can get—that small bit. But we've got no confidence in what the government have told us. We know that, despite the press release and the numbers that they put out, the fine print reveals a different story. In fact, the claims that they make and the numbers they put out are really just pulled out of the air. They can't produce the modelling. Remember when you were at school and the kids who were fantastic at maths went on to be actuaries? They do their job for the country. They tell the truth. They write the numbers. They do the sums and they figure out what it's going to cost. That's modelling. The government claim they have it. They also claim that it's not in the public interest for you to know what's in that modelling. It's breathtaking. It's the art of a conman and trickster. That's what happens when you have a man who's leading the country by PowerPoint and marketing plan, without an ethical bone in his body and with no moral compass, integrity or ability to tell the truth to the people of Australia. The people it's going to hurt are the people who will be sold this false promise by this government—people in the north.

I tell you who else is struggling today: those people in Lismore. We all know that the Prime Minister doesn't hold a hose when the fires are burning. I will acknowledge that the Prime Minister had COVID in the time that Lismore was suffering worst in recent weeks, so we'll give him a leave pass for that. But surely he could have sent someone from the government. He has a Treasurer. He has a whole raft of ministers who could have done the job of going to Lismore, seeing what was really going on and giving people hope, heart, comfort, resources and a plan. They talk a big game for business, but they fail to deliver.

It took Mr Morrison nine days. People's houses were awash, with mud-stained walls. Three thousand houses, I believe, were declared unfit for habitation, in a community where rents are going through the roof and the market is already very small. The need was desperate on every single level. Instead of sending somebody, Mr Morrison hung on and then hung on a bit more until nine days later, when he could show up and do a photo-op. What did he actually deliver? He shut a few roads so that he wouldn't have to meet the community. He's a Prime Minister who is running from responsibility, and he should run fast and hard because he's incapable of leading us in the way that we deserve. He's incapable of leading for people who are profoundly vulnerable right now in Lismore.

There's a contrast. We have amazing people at state level in the Labor Party. I've been waiting for the Prime Minister to come out with some sort of plan that would be digestible for the people of Lismore, to give them hope and to actually provide money, resources and targeted, planned support for businesses. Businesses in regional communities are the heart of the community—no businesses, no jobs. Labor understands that. You need great jobs that pay and businesses that are successful. All that can work together in an ecosystem when it's properly supported by a government that doesn't waste and rort money and buy seats for itself.

When Mr Minns, the Leader of the Opposition, went up to Lismore, he had a flood response plan. We haven't heard that from the government of Australia, with all its resources. It's practical in nature, because all the weasel words, all the magic words, all the marketing words and all the pretence of the Prime Minister cannot actually meet the reality of ordinary Australians. They needed a plan, and this is what a plan might sound like. Mr Minns said: 'What do families and businesses need? They need the waiving of local and state government fees and charges for those impacted by the flood.' Mr Morrison says: 'Oh, it's not my responsibility. We're talking about local and state costs.' But where's his conversation with the state to say, 'I know that you're going to have a big financial burden there, so how can the government of Australia help you?' That hasn't happened. Mr Minns said, 'Waive or defer payroll tax for small businesses in flood affected areas'. I'm pretty sure, having grown up in a family business and continuing to have a business with my husband, that, if I were in Lismore and I were inundated, that would be good news to hear. What can Mr Morrison do about it? Hands off. Do nothing. Pretend.

Perhaps somewhere down the track, if he's elected again, at five minutes to midnight we will get another bill like the one that we're debating today: wholly inadequate, full of contradiction and unable to be verified because of a failure to release modelling. If we're lucky, that's what we might get from Mr Morrison and his climate deniers. That's where we are, Australia: at the tail end of a decade of denial of climate realities.

You can only pretend for so long before the game's up. Well, the game's up, the time's up and Mr Morrison's time is absolutely certainly up. It's time to elect a decent government that will stand for all Australians—a government that, when you are in need, you can count on to deliver the basic things you need to get back on your feet and have a little bit of hope. We are capable of doing that as a nation, but not with this party in government and not with the soulless, heartless, valueless Mr Morrison in charge.