Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Watt mentioned metaphorically the Prime Minister being 'a green frog'. I thought it was a very interesting metaphor considering the old fable of the frog and the scorpion who wants to cross the river. We can think of the river as being the next couple of years of this government in Australia. The fable goes that the scorpion says to the frog, 'Can I jump on your back?' The frog says: 'Why would I let you on my back? If I do, you're going to sting me.' The scorpion says: 'No, I won't do that. I won't sting you. That would be suicide for both of us.' The frog thinks about it and, against his better judgement, says, 'Get on my back.' So the frog swims across the river with the scorpion and, sure enough, halfway across the river the scorpion stings the frog. The frog says, 'What did you do that for?' And the scorpion says: 'I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. It's in my nature.' Let's think about that metaphor. The scorpion is the right wing of Malcolm Turnbull's party and, against his better judgement, he did a deal with the scorpion to get power, to become Prime Minister of this country. And he—and this government—is slowly sinking, barely able to keep his head above water: a totally unnecessary double dissolution that cost the taxpayer tens of millions of dollars, a one-seat majority in the lower house, and no majority in the Senate.

Is it any wonder that this government is in policy paralysis? It has no vision, it has no courage, and it has no mandate. As we highlight in the matter of public importance which we are discussing here today, this is a Prime Minister who does not have control of his own party and who has no leadership authority. Look at what we have done in the 45th Parliament. What example have we shown the Australian people with the first legislation that came before this parliament? The first proposed legislation was an omnibus bill to take $5 billion in savings away from students, away from Newstart recipients, away from single parents and away from renewable energy. And then, just two weeks later, the next bill that we had before the Senate was giving $4 billion—$4 billion of the $5 billion, mind you, that we had just saved—back to the highest income earners in this country in a tax cut. That does absolutely nothing for the economy—giving that money to people who do not need a tax cut. What was the political purpose of that? The government has absolutely no vision whatsoever.

What has been the story of the day today—and yesterday? A tax on backpackers—that is, on people who come to this country for a working holiday, literally bouncing around on the bones of their backsides, having a good time but earning very little money. And this government wants to pinch pennies from them. That is its priority. How many million dollars are we talking about? $120 million a year over the forward estimates. If we want to talk about revenue raising, let's get real about reform. We could work together across political parties and have real reform in this country: reform that makes this place fairer and more equal, and reform that raises revenue to tackle budgetary problems. We could do it together. There is at least $100 billion worth of savings that we would be happy to work with the government on. But what does it do? It targets backpackers—just like it targets single parents and Newstart recipients. No vision.

This Prime Minister needs to stand up because, as it said on Senator Bernardi's cap in the picture posted on social media a few days ago, we need to make Australia great—Donald Trump's line. Do I need to call him Mr Donald Trump now, or President Donald Trump? I know it is not official. But, nevertheless, Senator Bernardi clearly does not believe that Australia currently is great. He does not believe that Australia is great, and he probably does not believe that his Prime Minister is great or that his political party is great any more. Watch out for what is coming down the line to the Prime Minister in coming months. I know there are a lot of people around this country in shock, right now as I speak. I say to them: polish your armour, sharpen your proverbial swords. Now is not the time to lose conviction. We will get action on climate change. We will get action on reform and on the things that matter in this country. (Time expired)

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

There are only a few minutes left of the discussion of this matter of public importance, but it is an important discussion. What Senator Whish-Wilson has just alluded to is probably going to make this a day to remember. What looks now like the imminent election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States really scares me. If there was ever a time when a country like ours needed a strong agenda with a strong leadership, we are going to need it now, and we are going to need it over the next few years. Unfortunately, that is what is seriously lacking with this government. They have no idea where they want to go—no idea where they want us to be as a country. They seem to have no vision.

We have seen that the Prime Minister was once a strong leader in terms of things that are so important, like addressing climate change, and like setting this country up with the economic capacity to address those issues and take us forward to be a world leader in those things. But those things are just not there. We have vacated that space because of the conservatives that are driving this agenda-less government. And I know that sounds like a little bit of a contradiction, that they are driving a government with no agenda, but that is what they are doing. They are driving a government that wants to put the rights of racists as the No. 1 agenda item of this country—something that has been previously ruled out by the Prime Minister but now has been resurrected as the agenda of the day—the agenda of the week. And here we go: the Prime Minister believes that the agenda—again driven by the conservatives—ought to be about abrogating our responsibility as a parliament to make decisions about the Marriage Act. He wants to push that off to a plebiscite. That is the sort of vacuous agenda that this government seems to have, which is being driven by the conservative wing of the Liberal Party. It is just not going to cut it. It is not going to cut it in an environment where there is going to be economic instability as a result of today. The global economy is going to react to the imminent election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. We need a government that actually knows where they want to take us, that has a vision for us—and this government does not. We have a pathetic Prime Minister who is just letting this country drift, driven by the George Christensens and the Eric Abetzes of the world. That will not cut it any longer.

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

Thank you, Senator Marshall. The time for discussion on the matter of public importance has now expired.