Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we've witnessed in this chamber today is an absolute abomination of process. This is why the people of this country have lost faith in this parliament. After five years this government has finally brought an energy bill to this parliament and has gagged debate without one opposition member being given the opportunity to speak to it. They gagged debate before the opposition could even get to its feet to speak on an energy policy that will affect 25 million Australians. It's an absolute abomination of process. It's a joke of a bill from a clown of a minister and a circus of a government. It's an absolute disgrace. It's taken them five years to get here, after multiple attempts at this bill, and they've absolutely failed at every step.

What we're talking about here is an amendment before this House on this bill. This late amendment came in because of the concerns about privatisation of government assets. This amendment comes in at the last minute and the government says, 'This will save things.' This is the energy policy of the nation and you've put an amendment in at the last minute to say, 'There'll be no privatisation.' Tasmania has a hydro system that is government owned and we want to keep it in government hands, and I think your promise not to privatise is as thin as the paper in my hand.