Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with my Labor colleagues in venting our outrage at the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Omnibus Savings and Child Care Reform) Bill 2017. We are outraged because of the fact that it is so unfair. We are outraged because of the fact that it is holding vulnerable groups to ransom. How is it holding vulnerable groups to ransom? What has been put forward by this government is that, if you do not pass this omnibus savings bill, we will not be able to fund the NDIS. That is an unacceptable proposition, and Labor will not be countenancing any of that. This morning, Jenny Macklin, the shadow minister, moved amendments to this bill, and those amendments are calling on the government to drop its unfair cuts and holding childcare assistance to ransom.

Doesn't it just say it all that there is no-one on the other side who is prepared to continue this debate and argue the so-called merits of this piece of legislation? The fact that the government cannot be bothered to put up any speakers while this debate is going on says it all. It says it all in many ways. It says to me that the people who are watching this debate and people who are following this debate will see it as bad politics. It is bad politics for the government to not even come forward and provide the arguments for this omnibus bill. It is difficult to understand why the government would take that position. Perhaps the answer is that what is really absorbing this government is internal machinations, internal arguments, and the very bad governance of government in this country.

We have watched in amazement from this side of the House the way in which this government is beginning to unravel. Not only is it beginning to unravel; but it is unravelling at a great pace. It is unravelling to the point where there are backbenchers who are making very public statements and directly challenging the authority of the Prime Minister. With all of that going on, is it any wonder that there will be the moral ineptitude of putting forward this omnibus so-called savings bill, with the threat that unless you pass it then you will not get the full funding of the NDIS. I think it is reprehensible.

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