Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I said 'some'. I ran my own business, so I know what it is like when you sit there at the end of the table after a hard run to Kununurra or Broome and you're absolutely exhausted. You get home to see the babies, get home to see the wife. It's alright for us blokes on the road because all we had to do was look at the bills because the bills came through the mail. Fiona would go and get the mail, and there'd be the tyre bill and the fuel bill. There'd also be bills for repairs and maintenance from Kenworth or for whatever truck I had at the time. There'd be something like a finger with a piece of ribbon tied on: remember, 30 days or sometimes remember, 45 days. I know what it's like to sit at the end of the table and think: 'Where are we going to get the next dollar? When is that next dollar going to come to pay off our debts—the fuel, the tyres, the repair and maintenance?' That's all the good stuff that goes with being in business, and saying that is very, very easy. Some of my colleagues over there, particularly Senator Scarr who's had a lifetime in business and employing people, understand that you can only spend what you've got. I will rephrase that: there is only so long you can go on spending what you haven't got—until you get caught out.

We're talking about roads and infrastructure, and I love roads and infrastructure. I love roads for obvious reasons like because we get to drive big trucks on them to deliver freight all around the nation. We bring it in, we take it out. We talk about our agricultural industry and how wonderful it is, and so we should. We talk about our mining industry and how wonderful that is. The majority of the stuff moving around this nation goes on the back of a truck, and we need good roads. Sadly, in in this nation we don't have good roads. But I do know that, when you start making promises you can't keep, there's going to be a problem. You hear the lines parroted by members of the other side that don't know what they're talking about, but they have to fill 15 minutes or five minutes or 10 minutes. They've got to take one for the team, so they'll ask for notes on something to talk about, and they go to the lowest common denominator.

I've been here a while and I've seen the standard of conversations in this chamber deteriorate over the years to the point while I'm embarrassed. We see kids coming through the galleries, we see people sitting here to see how this democracy works, and there's nothing wrong with this good entertaining banter. There's nothing wrong with a fierce defence of my ideas versus your ideas and the other way around. But the standard in this chamber has absolutely deteriorated over the years. You hear all the same things, like 'grubby deals' and 'your green mates', and you think, haven't you got any issues? If you can't make intelligent conversation or an intelligent point in the conversation, tell your whip you're not going to get up and make a goog of yourself. Sit down and leave it to others to put in some good information and put forward some good ideas. I have to take my good friend Senator Sullivan to task. This is the second time today I've been blowing wind up the back of your shirt although I have great respect for you, Senator O'Sullivan. I can't blame you because you're parroting the lines coming from your mate the shadow minister's office, Senator Bridget McKenzie, that Labor slashed $9.6 billion.

I had to displeasure of sitting in Senate estimates alongside a number of senators here. Senator McKenzie was asking questions, as was Senator Canavan, and talking about all the projects where Labor slashed funding. I have to tell them that the grown-ups got in. You're not going to like this, but we had Mr Morrison and Mr Frydenberg running around the nation announcing infrastructure project after infrastructure project after infrastructure project. I'd love to make up stuff, but you have to pay for it. Nothing was slashed. There were unfunded projects, there were projects the state governments hadn't agreed to, there were projects with no plans. Quite rightly, the grown-ups got in and went, "Whoa, hang on, we've got to get infrastructure in this nation, but we've got to have the ability to pay for it and the ability to have contractors that can provide the staff to do it.' And, whether Mr Morrison liked it or not, you've got to get agreement from the state governments and local governments. I don't blame you, Senator O'Sullivan, Senator McKenzie set you up for a fall.