Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Abetz. Can the minister confirm that last night's cabinet meeting did not have a single formal cabinet submission to consider and instead took the time to chew the fat with the chairs of backbench committees? Can the minister confirm that the Prime Minister has also cancelled next week's cabinet meeting?

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

One good thing about the honourable senator's question was that she delivered it with a broad smile—in other words, she was not serious about the question. As a relative newcomer to this place, can I indicate to the honourable senator she does not have to accept those sorts of questions from the question committee that will only humiliate her. As I recall, the honourable senator was once the Chief Minister of a territory and she would well know that one does not divulge that which may or may not be on cabinet agendas. And therefore for her as the Chief Minister to seek to assert that we as a federal government should do that, which she never did, would be highly inappropriate.

The assumptions on which the honourable senator based her questions are not based on fact. Once again, I would simply say to the honourable senator and the Labor Party: do not base your questions on some of the gossip columns that are in our new daily newspapers. The Australian people expect us as a national parliament not to deal with these sorts of silly issues of whether or not something was a fundraiser or not. They want to know about jobs, they want to know about national security, they want to know about the National Disability Insurance Scheme, they want to know about the free-trade agreements that will deliver jobs well into the future and they want to know about the Medical Research Fund that really provides a vision for the scientific community and research community in our country. They are the sorts of things that excite the Australian people. They are the sorts of things that this government is getting ahead with, and we will not indulge in this sort of gossip.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. They also want to know if their government has an agenda, Senator Abetz. Can the minister confirm that the cabinet submission last week about Australia's new post 2030 emissions reduction target did not contain the proposed figure and was left blank?

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

I am more than happy to confirm to the honourable senator and indeed the Australian people that this is a government with an agenda—an agenda to grow the economy, an agenda do to grow job opportunities for our fellow Australians, an agenda to deliver free trade agreements to create 9,000 jobs per annum and an agenda that includes the agricultural white paper that was so well received right across the rural communities. This is the government with an agenda for Northern Australia, where we have another white paper and another plan seeking to develop our nation.

In my home state of Tasmania, there is a plan to grow the irrigation system and the agricultural capacity of my home state. In the other states, we have a plan to ensure that the shipbuilding capacity in South Australia never again has to go through the valley of death. Mr President, I would love an extension of time. (Time expired)

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister confirm that senior ministers kicked the bean counters from Treasury and Finance out of the room during a funding discussion by a national intelligence agency? Minister, is this what two years of great government look like?

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

As I understand it the government has not engaged any bean counters. What I can say to the honourable senator is that good government looks like the creation of 336,000 new jobs since we came to government, at a rate four times that which Labor were able to achieve in their last year in government.

Good government is about bringing our finances back under control so that future generations do not have a millstone of debt around their necks. Great government ensures that the National Disability Insurance Scheme is rolled out in a methodical, purposeful manner so that the benefits go to the recipients and not the bureaucrats and other people.

Good government means that we make the sorts of savings in the rental arrangements that Senator Fifield and Senator Payne have been able to achieve. That is what this government is about and we will continue to pursue that for all Australians. (Time expired)