James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

No, I haven't checked, so there is a packet of Tim Tams on the table for those who are better at using search engines than I am. When Labor talk about transparency they are actually not that good at delivering on transparency.

The other thing I noticed about question time today and yesterday was that questions were put to Labor ministers about a treaty. These were in context of questions concerning the Voice, the referendum that Labor are going to bring forward at some point this year. What is interesting is that, for Labor politicians—Senator Wong may correct me if I'm wrong—it is part of the Labor Party manifesto to adopt and implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full. My understanding is that is about Voice and about truth and about treaty. But I challenge anyone—and there will be a crate of Tim Tams on the table here—to find a Labor minister who at the moment is prepared to say the word 'treaty' in question time. I will double the bet to find a Labor minister who will say that they are going to implement a treaty.

My view is if you believe in something you should be proud of it and you should stand up for it. It is clear that the Labor Party are proud of what they intend to do to Australia. I think what they intend to do to Australia is terrible and that we will go to hell in a handcart, but the Labor politicians should stand up for their beliefs. But, instead, what they're doing is hiding behind language that is tricky. They're using political speak. They are using all sorts of words to not answer questions. The questions from the coalition senators today were very good questions, but what characterised the answers from the Labor ministers was that there weren't any answers. We didn't get substantive answers in relation to the cost-of-living crisis, which is impacting Queenslanders and Australians. It is the No. 1 issue impacting Australia at the moment. Mortgages are going up. Rents are going up. Power bills are going up. Insurance bills are going up. But, instead, Labor want to talk about the Voice. But even then, they won't tell you what the Voice is about. They won't tell you that the Voice actually is automatically going to lead to a treaty and that is dangerous for Australia. The Labor Party wish to bring forward a voice that is risky, that is divisive, that will be permanent. What is of concern is: why doesn't the Labor Party have ears? Canberra needs more ears. Why doesn't the Labor Party listen to the voices already out there at the moment? They won't because they're in an echo chamber of their own thoughts.