Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Abetz for the question. I am sure anyone listening to this question time today will say, ‘What on earth was that all about? What on earth are the Liberal Party about? Why are they not focused on the concerns of ordinary Australians? Why are they so enmeshed in their own party-political games that they have no conversation to have with the Australian people?’ They have no interest in asking the government questions that hold the government to account on important matters of public importance. No. They want me to discuss what happened at our caucus meeting. It seems the only interest the Liberal Party have is in what happened in a Labor Party caucus room. They are much more interesting than, I hear, yours are since you abandoned any interest in the second half of your job—since you admitted that you only had to do half your job, which is to criticise and wreck, and that you had no interest in policies. We have seen that again in the telecommunications debate today. All they can do is criticise and seek to wreck and offer nothing in the alternative. They had 11 years to come up with a communications policy and they failed.

The Labor caucus and Labor government are focused on the key issues of concern to the Australian public. The objective of strengthening our economy is at the core of the government’s objective and policies.