Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

I have been referring to the Leader of the Opposition as the Leader of the Opposition or by his name, Mr Abbott. It is pretty clear that this plebiscite is a joke, it is a fraud and he will not abide in any way by the people. He has said that himself and that there will be no other plebiscites. The Liberal Party talk about listening to Australians. It is an absolute joke. These are the same people who, without going to an election, introduced Work Choices, which stole the conditions and the penalty rates of working Australians. Did they have a plebiscite? Did they put that to an election? No, they did not. Did they put to a plebiscite a big decision for the country like sending troops to Afghanistan? No, they did not. Today the sheer hypocrisy of the Liberal Party and the National Party and also of Mr Abbott has been revealed. This is not a real proposal. This is the worst kind of stunt and it must be embarrassing for Liberal senators to have to come into this chamber and defend it.

This is a Liberal Party that opposes everything. They say no to everything. In the other chamber they try to block everything. Every time the government tries to put in place plans and proposals to fight climate change, to improve and reform the economy, they block them. Once again I ask this chamber to reject this proposal. It is a fraud from a fraud of an opposition leader.