Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Hanson-Young. All the whingeing and moaning that's happening over there is all just politics. You actually support the policy, but you want to run the politics. Well, we are putting people before politics. We took this decision. We knew there would be consequences in changing our position, but we went in because we knew it was the right thing to do—not the easy thing to do and not the convenient thing to do. We knew you would run around and try and run scare campaigns and cry in your teacups and carry on. We knew that. But it's the right thing to do, and the Australian people know it. They expect their government to do the right thing for the right reason. That's why we are doing this.

The Australian people expect their governments to do this. They don't expect us to take the easy option just because we might face a motion in the Senate because the opposition doesn't like it. That's not what being in government is about.