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

Senator Henderson, I think it would be unparliamentary to say the Deputy Prime Minister is a handicap, so I could not agree to that particular suggestion. It is something that perhaps the government could answer.

But what I will say is that there is a trend here. There is a real trend in how this government is refusing to deal with the issues of accountability. Actually, I misspoke there: they are dealing with the issues of accountability by refusing to deal with them. We have seen orders for production of documents. For those listening at home, the plain English for that is that the Senate says, 'We want to see the documents because we want to hold the executive to account.' Well, guess what: there is motion after motion after motion to which the government refuses to agree. So the Senate passes the motion and the motion thumbs its nose at it.

There are also the questions on notice, of which I have 30 outstanding. By the way, the questions that I've asked are not overly complex questions. I'm not asking for the government to develop a solution for the Middle East peace process. I'm not asking for them to develop a solution for the differences between Northern Ireland and the republic. I'm not asking for things like that. I'm asking some quite simple questions about social media posts by secretaries of departments. I'm asking for very simple things. You would think that, if the government were all about accountability and transparency, they would be able to answer. But—shame upon shame upon shame—no. This government has a track record of not answering questions.

Of course, we've touched upon golf clubs. We can talk about this shocking scandal, and it is a scandal. The Deputy Prime Minister of this country has spent $3.6 million on airfares in the last 16 months.