Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the 40th suspension motion moved by those opposite in the 43rd Parliament. Every single day they come into this chamber and they move a suspension of standing orders that allows them to stand up and heckle, explain their negativity, hector and not put forward anything positive whatsoever. They do not participate in the constructive debates. They do not take the opportunity that question time provides to try to hold the executive to account. They simply stall for time until they can give their preprepared suspension motion, typed out in the morning and moved in the afternoon—day after day after day.

What are the consequences if we suspend standing orders? The consequences are that we will knock off the discussion of the matter of public importance from the member for Throsby, which is about jobs, employment, the economy and the manufacturing sector. The member for Throsby cares about jobs and the economy. All those opposite care about is one thing—being able to go from a shadow minister to a minister and from Leader of the Opposition to Prime Minister. That is their only concern. The only job that this man sitting here is concerned about is the position of Prime Minister. He does anything at all—there are no limits to what those opposite are prepared to do—to try to drag down the economy.

Today, on a day when we have more Australians in work than at any time in our history, we hear nothing from those opposite. The only people disappointed by today's employment figures are those opposite. There were 46,300 jobs in January—

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