Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I talk on an MPI, I am always very curious to have a look at it and try to understand why the Labor Party might be putting it forward. When I looked at this MPI and saw that the member for Throsby was putting it forward, I thought, 'This seems to lack substance. It seems to be all about style.' Member for Throsby, I do not do this very often but I will give you a tiny bit of advice. I think you need a little less of that professional coaching that you have had. You walk to the dispatch box and stand there, You put one hand here and the other hand goes into your pocket. You look around and think to yourself, 'Okay, I'll get a bit of hand movement going here with this hand here.' We are all watching; we see it every single time. You walk to the dispatch box, you put one hand here and you put the other hand in your pocket and you make yourself look very important.

Member for Throsby, let's have a little less concentration on the style and a bit more concentration on the substance. If you focused on the substance, you would know we have not cut drug and alcohol funding. Go away and do some research. Forget about your little style tips; do the research and focus on the substance. There have been no cuts to drug and alcohol funding whatsoever. As a matter of fact, what has been taking place in this space is bipartisan cooperation. There was bipartisan cooperation until you started this shameful debate which seeks to break this bipartisanship on this subject. We in this place should all be above that. This is not about political opportunism. This is about a scourge which is impacting on communities right across Australia. Rather than running dirty little smear campaigns such as we see with this MPI, you should all be seeking to work with the government to make sure that we can combat this scourge

Let us look at what the government has done. We are running a TV campaign and everyone who has seen those ads knows that they are working and that they are having a real impact on the community. If you see those ads, you cannot help but be confronted by the images in them. They portray what is happening out there in communities, in hospitals and in emergency waiting rooms. They portray the kinds of actions that are occurring when these people are inflicted by this insidious drug. We have also set up a hotline for parents, which enables parents who are dealing with these types of issues for the first time and encountering stuff that no parent would ever, ever want to face to seek advice. We are establishing a national ice task force with the states. We are working with the state governments cooperatively. We are putting substance into the methods to deal with this crisis which is gripping our community, and all we get from the other side is a pathetic MPI like this.

We on this side are about substance, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker. We are about addressing issues properly. We are about putting policies in place. We are not about style and seeking to look good; we are about effective action. (Time expired)

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