Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I will just pick up on what Senator Birmingham asked and the minister's response where he said he was unable to be any clearer in regard to the mandate for this bill that they took to the last election. When we are talking about clarity, this is as clear as mud. This is a murky and muddy promise that you cannot, in good conscience, say was made plain and clear to the Australian people. It does not pass the common-sense test.

I would invite the minister to recollect during the last election campaign when Ms Gillard made allegedly unscripted remarks at the Labor Party campaign launch. We know that was not true. It was another deception, another hoax played upon the Australian people. The Labor luminaries—I can remember their faces—were all given their lines as they walked out of the conference, saying: 'Those remarks by Ms Gillard were entirely unscripted. What a wonderful woman. How passionate. It is the real Julia.' Then the inconvenient truth was exposed that the remarks were entirely scripted and the script had been left on the podium—once again drawing into question the credibility of the Prime Minister, both the fake Julia and the real Julia.

I would put to you, Senator Farrell, that there has been and there was no clarity. There was no mandate that you could claim at the last election—notwithstanding the fact that, yes, you have been able to cobble together a minority government—because your policy program, such as these cost increases that you are imposing upon families, was entirely rejected either by the Australian people or by your own party in such things as dumping the cash-for-clunkers scheme, dumping your own key plank of policy which is called the 'no carbon tax under a government I lead' policy, and in junking your community consensus. I forget what its name was. It was abhorrent. The deception of the Australian people meant that the outcome of that last election is muddy and the credibility for this govern­ment to implement any of its programs is absolutely murky and clouded and under deep suspicion.

While that suspicion is felt very strongly out there by the Australian people and while the Australian people are actually angry at this government, it is no longer a case of Liberals versus Labor; it is all of Australia against this government. They are mocked and derided by people like Mr Albanese in the other place because there were not 6,000 trucks taking time off from their work of trying to make ends meet to have a protest. They could get—only!—about 400 or 500 people travelling from all over Australia at their own expense to come here. They are mocked and derided for sharing in this part of democracy. It is just like those people who want to hold this government to account for its no carbon tax promise and were derided as cranks and extremists because they dared to disagree with this government.

Let me suggest to you, Senator Farrell, that at no stage during the last election and at no stage in your key policy announcements at the Labor Party election launch did the Prime Minister ever say to the 20,700-plus families that are going to be affected by this thing, 'We are going to make you pay more for your child care.' At no stage would she have said that. I am happy to stand corrected and I would invite you and your coterie of advisers to go into the Hansard, look for the election promises and show me the actual words where the Prime Minister said that we are going to increase the cost of child care for 20,000-plus families. I would suggest to you respectfully that that is not the case. So please, don't pull my leg or anyone else's leg in this place by saying that this was clear, that there was clarity on this at the last election. We know that is not true. We know that it is as clear as mud. That is why the Australian people are rejecting this government and that is why the coalition has grave concerns, grave reservations, about the deception played upon the Australian people and what this cost of child care is going to be doing to the affordability of it for so many families.