Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

Mr Deputy President, if you ever wanted an example of the chaos, dysfunction and dishonesty at the heart of the Abbott government, it would be the way in which the submarines promise and project has been handled. If you ever wanted an example of how this Prime Minister Abbott cannot be trusted by the Australian people or by his backbench, it would be in relation to the Future Submarine Project. Let us recall this sorry saga.

Before the election, the Abbott opposition, as the Abbott government were then, promised that 12 submarines would be built at the Australian Submarine Corporation in Adelaide. They promised that. It was a clear open and shut case that the submarines would be built in Adelaide. All of sudden, after the election, that undertaking was dumped and this Prime Minister decided that he would have the submarines built in Japan. He broke his promise. It was a decision that not only sold out South Australia but also went against Australia's economic and strategic interests.

We could not imagine that it could actually get any worse than the complete debacle, chaos, dysfunction and dishonesty that is the submarines project under this government—and that was, of course, we know, after Senator Johnston, as the former defence minister, talked about canoes. But even that appalling standard was breached again over the weekend. Things actually got worse. The jobs of South Australians and a multibillion dollar project became pawns in the leadership battle inside the Liberal Party, because the Prime Minister indicated to Senator Edwards that magically, instead of the deal with Japan, there would now be a competitive, open tender. Senator Edwards—who is not here, and I invite him to come in and clarify this, because it is quite clear that he has been sold a pup—got on Adelaide television, beat his chest and said to everyone: 'We've had a win. I've had a win.' He said that there would be an open, competitive tender. The only problem was that the Prime Minister did not say that when he was asked that in his interview with Chris Uhlmann. He did not say that he would have an open tender. We saw again today the finance minister running away from committing to an open tender—the open tender that Senator Edwards said was his big win. And then what did we have? We had Mr Briggs really putting the boot into Senator Edwards on 891 today, where he said

… the position today is the same as the position was last week, and I’m pleased that Sean’s happy about that.

As Matt Abraham, the ABC journo, tweeted—'Slam dunk', because Senator Edwards went out and told all the South Australians that he had got a deal with the PM to have a competitive, open tender. But the reality is: what we know about this is that there was a Prime Minister who was prepared to play politics with the largest procurement this country will ever see in order to get a vote in a leadership ballot. It is extraordinary—a multibillion dollar project is played to get a vote in a no-confidence motion, a spill motion, against a sitting Prime Minister.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Shameful!

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is utterly shameful. The reality is that, when it comes to Future Submarines, this Prime Minister did not care about South Australian jobs, and did not care about Australian jobs, until his own job was on the line. What he did was send smoke signals out to a member of his backbench, who then stood up in front of the cameras at Adelaide Airport last night telling everybody that he had had a win—only to be told the next day by various ministers, in their public statements, that nothing had changed. Well, someone is telling lies, someone is telling porkies. Either the Prime Minister did tell Senator Edwards that there would be an open, competitive tender and is now backtracking on it—hoping that no-one will notice the weasel words when he talks about evaluation processes, as opposed to a competitive tender process—or Senator Edwards was lying when he stood up in front of the voters of South Australia last night and said, 'I've had a win.' Someone is telling lies. Senator Edwards should come into this chamber and tell South Australians precisely what was committed by the nation's Prime Minister in relation to the Future Submarines project. He should do that, and the Prime Minister should declare what his position is. (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate the Australian soccer team on winning the Asian cup, and I can only reflect on what a wonderful thing it is that Senator Wong was not a member of the team. Senator Wong scored an own goal today in asking that question of Senator Abetz. Senator Abetz's rejoinder was that, when this issue was resolved today, he did not turn on the leader as Senator Wong had done to Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard in her time as Leader of the Senate. What we saw playing out in this place today was the contrast between the Liberal Party and the Labor Party. What we saw historically with Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard was the greatest act of bastardry and lack of loyalty—and, of course, it played out in the sense that the Australian people did not even have the opportunity to have their say.

What we saw today was a mature process enacted by a backbench. I again go to Senator Wong's supplementary question in which she demanded of Senator Abetz that he confirm that the cabinet had a free vote. The Labor Party just do not understand. A secret ballot, as I remember it, is a ballot that allows each person to state their position without fear or favour or influence. And that is what we had today in our party room. We had a secret ballot indicating a free vote—no opportunity for the Prime Minister of the day to put pressure on cabinet members, ministers or anybody else. When Labor went into opposition we had the spectacle of the rank and file having an opportunity to have a vote—and they supported Mr Albanese. But when the parliamentarians in the Labor Party had their vote, they selected Mr Shorten. So we have a Leader of the Opposition who does not enjoy the full support of those who had the opportunity to vote.

We have had questions asked today by Senator Moore. All this went to was the fact that on our side of politics—as evidenced by Ms Gambaro's comments, statements and questions—we are free to speak in public without any fear of retribution. We have a mature process. We have a process that is fully democratic. We have a process, as played out today, where people have the opportunity to decide whether they want to have a spill. That is in contrast to the circumstances in which Mr Rudd lost the prime ministership.

I would now like to address the issue raised now by Senator Wong with regard to submarines and the program for the replacement. What a lamentable situation it is for the senior South Australian senator in this place—a senior minister when Labor was in government and now the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate—to raise her nose above the spectre of the failure of the last government when it came to submarines for this nation and indeed for South Australia. Absolutely nothing was left for the incoming government in terms of a program to replace the submarine fleet. When the Labor Party was in government we heard nothing from Senator Wong, Senator Farrell or anyone else about what the future might hold. And we now have this sanctimonious bleating from Senator Wong and others. What the Prime Minister has said—echoed by the Minister for Finance—is that, in the interests of the Australian community, we will have a competitive process to determine who will build the future submarines of this country. We would not be in this position if Labor, in government, had acted. (Time expired)

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers given by Senator Abetz and Senator Cormann today in particular. Senators must have forgotten over the Christmas break what the purpose of question time is, because the answers given today bear little resemblance to the questions asked. It also seems that the entire Parliamentary Liberal Party has forgotten the purpose of government. They are now completely consumed not with matters that are important to the people of Australia but, rather, matters of personality in their own party and who could win a high-school popularity contest—the cool kid in his leather jacket, the member for Wentworth, or the athlete, the Prime Minister.

Today, the Australian people have been done a great disservice by the Liberal Party, who are unrepentant. In his answers today, Senator Abetz seemed unfazed by the fact that his Prime Minister bound his cabinet to support him at today's Libspill, taking away from the party room their usually robust free vote that we hear about so often. But even forcing his cabinet colleagues' support was not enough to make Tony Abbott's leadership secure.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's Mr Abbott to you.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Forty per cent of his party room have deserted his chaotic leadership. The obeisance from that comment that we just had from Senator Abetz demanding that I call the Prime Minister Mr Abbott and not dare to speak his name reminds me of those—

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is the correct form of address. I ask you to do so please.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister. Two-thirds of his backbench know that they do not keep their seats with Tony Abbott at the helm, making his captain's picks and guiding them from disaster to disaster. Bullying and intimidation were not enough to keep the backbench members in line. There has been a breakout of people who are sick to the teeth of the Prime Minister's constant promises of improving his behaviour and being more consultative. They have learned their lesson: they simply have to ignore what he says, because his actions have spoken very loudly. He ignores his own backbench in the way he ignores the Australian people.

Senator Abetz refused to comment when questioned about the cruel and unfair tactics that were being used to get members of parliament to back the faltering horse. But who can blame the Liberal backbenchers? They hear one story from their colleagues and they hear a different story from the media. Now they even have the Prime Minister on the phone at the eleventh hour, making conflicting promises to different members and senators to secure his leadership. Is the GP tax gone? The Member for Cowan thinks it is. I wonder where he got that impression. Senator Cormann says it is here to stay. Will our submarines be built in Australia? Senator Edwards thinks so, and he thought so so powerfully that he went out in public yesterday and again this morning, claiming that he had a deal with the Prime Minister to deliver those submarines for South Australia, to have an open tender. But today we have heard all the weasel words again. Tony Abbott obviously still wants them to be built in Japan.

Will the Prime Minister listen to Australians on higher education? Tony Abbott says he will be more consultative. Australians just do not trust him to listen to his backbench, do not trust him to listen to the experts and do not trust him to listen to the community. The Liberal Party promised to be a grown up, adult government that 'thinks before it acts', but the only thing they are thinking of is themselves. The Liberal Party promised to be a no-surprises, no-excuses government, but all we have seen is excuse after excuse from this dysfunctional, untrustworthy Prime Minister and his government.

But after all this the Prime Minister has promised that good government would begin today.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What were you doing for the past 16 months?

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How could good government begin today? Was this the day that he foreshadowed and heralded to himself as the day that he would begin good government? It is more than 520 days since the Prime Minister took the leadership of this country—520 days of what I would say is clearly bad government. I absolutely agree with Senator Conroy there. If you are going to start good government today, that is all we can assume has been the case. That is why the fortunes of this Liberal Party-Nationals coalition are at such a low point: they lied to the Australian people to get into government. They came through and revealed their colours in all their darkness, despair and misery in the budget, and Australians are awake to you. They are on to you, and it only a short time before the Prime Minister loses his position. (Time expired)

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am going to respond particularly to Senator O'Neill's contribution.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deny you were the informal vote.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do deny it 100 per cent.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Did you vote yes?

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I voted no and I made it clear before and after.

One of the reasons I do so is because, whilst there is no doubt that we as a government and the Prime Minister have acknowledged that we could have done better, I would like to outline for the Senate in the time I have available the significant achievements that this government has already made in its first 17 months in office. These are undeniable achievements. These are significant achievements. These are achievements that we now need to build on. We should not forget what we have done, the mess we have inherited and the efforts we have made to fix that mess over the last 17 months.

If there had not been a change of government, we would still have the carbon tax. Australians would still be forced to pay an extra $550 a year because the Labor Party decided that was a reasonable imposition. It is interesting in the context of debates about a co-payment that the Labor Party, who are opposed to any form of price signal, say they are happy for households, no matter how much money they might have, to have to pay an extra $550 a year as a result of their carbon tax. So we got rid of that, not just taking pressure of households but helpfully creating jobs, taking pressure off business, lowering the cost of doing business in this country so that we can grow jobs. That is the sort of thing we have seen.

We got rid of the mining tax for one of our key industries. Again it is about economic growth, it is about investor certainty and it is about jobs. It is, importantly, about jobs. The mining tax was another attack upon a key industry in this nation. The Labor Party and the Greens came up with this scheme, and we have managed to get rid of it.

What else have we seen? We have stopped the drownings at sea—a significant achievement—

Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You've stopped the solar industry. Well done!

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ludlam says, 'Well done,' and we do not ever hear that when we look at stopping the drownings at sea. When it came to Greens and Labor policy, there did not seem to be any angst about the fact that their policies were leading to people getting on leaky boats and drowning on the way here. That was the result of their policies. So that is another change we have seen, and this is one that we were told could simply not be done. We were told by those opposite—by the Labor Party—by the Greens and by other commentators that you could not stop them, because Labor had not managed to for the past few years, and we had seen the tragic consequences. Well, as outlined by Senator Cash today, with resolve and with the right policy mix, you actually can. If we are going to have the usual critics of the government then we should look at those significant achievements. We have seen the abolishment of the carbon tax, reducing the cost of living; getting rid of the mining tax, protecting our key industries; stopping the drownings at sea and securing our borders; and free trade agreements across the board with China, with Japan and with Korea. This is all about growing the economy and all about opening up economic opportunities for Australians and Australian businesses so they can create the jobs of the future, so that our service industries can go into these markets in Asia. What did the Labor Party do on free trade agreements? Well, they procrastinated. They could not get them done. They were not actually committed to them.

Opposition senators interjecting—

I hear the interjections about Tasmania. The free trade agreements will be wonderful for Tasmania. Tasmania has suffered under the weight of a Labor-Greens government in Canberra and a Labor-Greens government in Tasmania. We have Will Hodgman and his team turning things around; we have things like a free trade agreement and getting rid of the carbon tax, which will also help turns things around, not just in Tasmania but also around the country; we are building roads of the 21st century and have hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental approvals, which, again, is all about growing jobs for the future and growing our economy. So whilst there is much more that can be done and we can do things better, they are significant achievements that should not be forgotten. (Time expired)

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we have heard here today, not only in the responses to questions by the opposition but also in the responses by the coalition senators, is that nothing has really changed. After the chaos that we have seen in the government in the last few days, nothing has really changed. We have a Prime Minister who has admitted today that good government starts today—some 16 months after they came into office, 520 days since they came into office—good government starts today. And yet we have heard here today from coalition senators and their ministers that nothing has changed. Their responses are all the same. Nothing has changed. They need to understand what their back bench has been telling them. The Australian people have been telling them that their problem is that they delivered a manifestly unfair budget. They know it and the Australian people know it. The only difference is, they do not care. They did not care. The Australian people will not let you get away with this. No amount of restarts or reboots are going to change what this government is all about. They just do not care. They will continue their attack on low- and middle-income Australians. They will somehow continue with their GP tax, they will continue to inflict $100,000 university degrees on our children, they will continue with the cuts to pensions and family supports, and they have cut $80 billion from schools, education and hospitals. All of these things they said they would not do, and the Prime Minister said they would not do. He lied. He lied to the electorate. What we have now is—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, a point of order: accusations of that nature against a specific member of parliament are disorderly and need to be withdrawn.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw, but the Prime Minister's government lied. The coalition lied to the electorate. It does not matter how—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, a point of order: the withdrawal has to be unequivocal, and the allegation cannot be made against a specifically identified member of parliament. The senator knows that, and she should abide by the standing orders.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, on the point of order: I did withdraw and then I continued my contribution.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

By saying the Prime Minister lied.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I said the Prime Minister's government.

David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And then you said that he lied.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And then you said he lied.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brown, I have taken some advice on this and the words you are using really get us close to the point of being unparliamentary. I think it would be useful if you would withdraw those remarks and continue with your contribution.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw. I thought that was what I was doing before.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we have seen here is a coalition that is now fighting amongst itself. We have a third of the coalition caucus room not supporting the Prime Minister. We have a Prime Minister who has no respect for his back bench. We saw recently in his Press Club speech that he would have no more captain's calls and more consultation—I am not sure what Mr Abbott thinks 'more consultation' means—yet he changed the meeting time for this spill motion with very little consultation.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Have you seen the video?

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have not seen the video but I cannot wait to—

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And just days after he said he would consult more he changed the party room time to wrong-foot the backbench, and others, to deny proper discussion and consultation for his own caucus room. That is what he did. That is what he did, because he knew that the backbench were unhappy, he knows that he has been leading a government that has broken many promises to the electorate and he knows that the outspoken complaints about the way he operates and the way this government has been operating were only going to gather momentum. After this cruel and unfair budget, I do not think anybody would really trust this government again to keep any of its commitments.

We have heard over the last few days some of the comments that the backbench have been making as to what is really occurring inside the Liberal Party caucus. We have heard from Ms Gambaro, who said: 'We cannot govern ourselves in an internal climate of fear and intimidation. And that is the unacceptable situation we have endured for the past five years.' (Time expired)

Question agreed to.