Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Labor talks a big game about transparency and accountability. Any whiff of a cover-up from the Liberals, and you can bet they'll be the first asking for heads to roll. But, as soon as the tables are turned and the spotlight is on them, Labor quickly demonstrates that they're no better. Yesterday I expected documents about the Federal Circuit and Family Law Court in Burnie to be handed over after my successful order for the production of documents last year. Now that it's time to deliver, the government's decided they can't stump up the documents. It's not unreasonable for the government to say that making some of these documents public could impact current negotiations. I don't want that. I want this issue to be resolved. But that argument doesn't stand for all of the documents I asked for, and the government is hiding behind weak excuses so they don't have to comply with the Senate's order and hand them over.

This is why people hate politics. They just want politicians to tell them the truth when they've stuffed up something or something's gone wrong. Instead, the major parties lie through their teeth. They're in it to save their own skin and hold on to power. It doesn't matter whether or not that means doing the right thing for the people they're supposed to represent. Neither party has taken responsibility for how the family law court in Burnie ended up in this position. The coalition stuffed it up, Labor has stuffed it up and the Tasmanian Liberal government has stuffed it up as well. We have no idea why three years on we're still talking about this and it hasn't been fixed. I'm frustrated. I just want a good outcome for the people of North West Tasmania. Both Liberal and Labor at state and federal levels are more interested in playing political games than in telling the truth and getting on with it, and Tasmanians are wearing the consequences. We need to stop stuffing up.