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

I rise to remind people listening and those in the chamber that on this day in 2008 Malcolm Turnbull defeated Brendan Nelson for the Liberal leadership. At his first press conference of his one year and 76 days at the helm Mr Turnbull said:

… our job as Liberals is to ensure that our society is a fair one.

Words come cheap to those on the other side. He did not believe it then and he does not believe it now. Mr Turnbull now takes over the reins of a party that has shown it is anything but fair and does anything but act in the interests of a fair society. If you think we are going to get a different government and that anything will change under Mr Turnbull's stewardship then you must also inhabit the same blissful la-la land that Mr Turnbull refers to so often.

Elocution lessons and a nice suit will not be enough to change the unfair agenda of the Abbott-Turnbull government. It is determined to inflict pain on the Australian people and create incredible unfairness and inequity. We see that at every turn, whether it is their budget choices or the legislation and regulations they push through this parliament. Without Labor holding it up it would be a lot worse than it already is.

The new Prime Minister was one of the heavy lifters in cabinet who supported all the cuts—every single one of them—of the horror budget of 2014. That was the budget that ripped $80 billion out of hospitals and schools, the budget that cut pensions and slashed funding to the ABC and SBS, the budget that intended to take away unemployment benefits from young job seekers and the budget that proposed a GP tax to visit a doctor. He supported it all—emphatically and on many occasions.

While the conservative state Premiers were so horrified by the budget measures that they took a stand against Mr Abbott, Mr Turnbull was out trumpeting the values of that very budget. Even with the benefit of hindsight—having seen the Australian public's reaction to it and having watched it held up here in the Senate—just in March this year Mr Turnbull said in a speech at the Brisbane Club that it was 'in no way correct to say that the 2014-15 budget was a failure'. By deduction he clearly thinks it was a success. He said the problem was not the cuts themselves but the way the government sold them. Labor has managed to stop many of the Liberal's cruel legislation efforts from hurting Australian families but we know this government is still determined to slug students with a $100,000 debt for a university degree and is still determined to break and dismantle Medicare and fair access to health care for all Australians.

Is Mr Turnbull ever going to stop the deregulation of tertiary education? Not if we believe his words. If he changes his mind, that will reveal his character more—that you cannot trust a single word he says. Is he going to stop the GP tax by stealth the Liberals have imposed by freezing the Medicare rebate? Not if we believe his words. If he does change his mind, once again he will prove how ill suited, in terms of his character, he is for the high office of the Prime Minister of this great country.

The Liberal government that Mr Turnbull now leads is still hell-bent on taking away penalty rates from hardworking and unselfish workers, such as nurses, who work unsocial hours and holidays such as Christmas. That is what he wants to get rid of. People experience inconvenience working at those times yet this government, with Malcolm Turnbull as part of the cabinet and now as its Prime Minister, are all for taking away any compensation for the dedication of caring, hardworking Australians.

Last week the Fair Work Taskforce held its first hearing in New South Wales at Gosford in the seat of Robertson. We know the member for Robertson is one of the ones who backed Mr Abbott 100 per cent last week. This week, with blood on her hands, with the knife at her disposal—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's my action. I have copyright on that one.

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

Senator Cash is one of the ones who use this gesture. We know she has plenty of friends holding the knife with her, stabbing an elected Prime Minister in his very first term and taking him down. There were bloodcurdling screams from the room where the vote was taken. We have a hypocritical government that is not able to stand up for any fairness. They took out their own first term Prime Minister. They are grubby and dirty. While they have been plotting and planning this whole massacre—

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I wonder whether accusing the government of being hypocritical is unparliamentary.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, it is not.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you sure?

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Bernardi, there is no point of order.

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

I was interrupted while I was mimicking the gesture of Senator Cash, who is very famous for declaring that blood should never be spilt in the chamber. But they are covered in blood—from one end of the chamber to the other and across to the other side. The reality is that, while they were plotting and planning taking out their first term elected Prime Minister, they slowed this chamber down and filibustered debate after debate. They held up legislation getting it ready for the new Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser—Malcolm Turnbull. It would probably be better if we got Malcolm Fraser back.

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

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. The senator spoke of the late Malcolm Fraser. I think she may have actually been referring to the now Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull. I wonder if you can draw her attention to accuracy in the chamber.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is a debating point.

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

Time was ticking while that point of order was being taken.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, the clock does not stop because we count down to a hard mark at 2 pm.

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

The reality is in Gosford, where we heard that council cleaners on $20— (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator O'Neill. It now is 2 pm.