Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am just recovering from what was a shemozzle of a performance from those opposite. I have to say that this idea, this notion, this suggestion from question time that somehow there is a small, targeted media campaign designed to undermine this government and that this is a fantastic government that is doing this great work and that is loved by the Australian people could not be further from the truth. This is a government that is falling apart before our very eyes. This is a government that is sinking like a canoe—

Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Up the creek!

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is falling apart at every instance. What do we see? We saw last week a leaking to News Ltd journalists—The Daily Telegraph, a fantastic publication, I may point out—of a hit list from senior government sources of who is in and who is out. I was pretty shocked to see the Leader of the Government in the Senate on that hit list. I was pretty shocked and horrified and pretty disappointed, I have to say, that his colleagues would put him on that list. There were people on that list who surprised all of us. This is no conspiracy on the fringes. This is no ABC/Fairfax campaign running against the government—I believe the term used was 'jihad', but inappropriately. Six out of eight ministers who were contacted by Fairfax journalists talked about the idea of the inevitability of a leadership coup. What did we get on the weekend? The gold quote of the year from a government MP: 'Say it to my face and I will smash his in.' 'Say it to my face and I will smash his in.'

Dysfunction and disorder—a government that has completely fallen apart before our very eyes. They turn around and say, 'It's all gossip. It's the glitterati.' These are their own members of parliament, their own ministers, their own cabinet talking about their cabinet. I say to those opposite: if that is what you think of your own government, imagine what the people out there are thinking of your government right now. They go on about gossip columnists and attack them. They say that it is only at the fringes. Well, I have to say that I do not believe that Laurie Oakes is some kind of fringe-dweller. I do not think Laurie Oakes is that kind of journalist. If you saw what Laurie Oakes said on the weekend or the news reports last night, they have such little faith in their own government and such little faith in their Prime Minister that there is actual talk of a leadership spill this week. They just cannot trust the bloke to go out there and destroy their electoral prospects simply to retain his own job. The question has to be: whose job is he actually trying to protect?

Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

His own.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's not the jobs in the car industry—they have gone. Not the jobs of any South Australian when it comes to shipbuilding; they have gone. Not the jobs in manufacturing; not the jobs in new technologies; not the jobs when it comes to climate and other new possibilities. No, there is one job this Prime Minister is focused on—that is his own and, frankly, he is not doing a very good job of protecting that job, either.

Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is a wrecker.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have a by-election on the weekend. We heard a fantastic speech from Senator Reynolds who went on about what an incredibly strong and brilliant candidate the Liberal Party has. I do not know Mr Hastie; I have not met Mr Hastie. Senator Reynolds' comments were quite inspirational, but you would have to ask yourself: if they have such a fantastic candidate in the seat of Canning, why are they copping 10 per cent swings? Who are the people voting against him? It is not the local candidate; the candidate is superb—that is their word, not mine. For such a superb local candidate, there is one person they are voting against, and that is the Prime Minister of Australia. The question is this: what is going to happen this week? Is Mr Turnbull going to put up or shut up? Is the Prime Minister so confident in his own position that he is prepared to spill? We kept hearing those others talking about Mr Simon Crean when it came to the free trade agreement. Maybe they need a Simon Crean themselves to step up and make it all happen. (Time expired)