Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Here we have a government yet again seeking to rearrange the procedures in this place. This is a dysfunctional government, a government that is now seeking to exempt legislation from the normal cut-off. It is doing that because it has not been able to get its house in order. No doubt Labor will once again move the gag in relation to this because they do not want to have explained to the Australian people how dysfunctional they are. This is a government that is self-focused. It is internally focused. All it talks about is whether our Prime Minister should or should not be ringing the boy in Bali. Why on earth would the Prime Minister be doing that? There is only one reason: to try to gazump the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Rudd, who has been making some headway, I understand, in relation to the Labor Party leadership stakes.

The government is seeking to stop debate on all sorts of issues today. Why? Because it wants deceit, not debate. Let's make no bones about this. The Labor Party went to the last election promising no carbon tax, and today through the lower house they have forced it. Every single one of those Labor members, including the Prime Minister, was elected on a promise of no carbon tax. When I say that they are Labor members, they are only Labor members in name, because they have deceived and betrayed the Australian people and those that they used to champion. Before the election they promised those people that there would be no carbon tax.

I note there is a Labor representative in this place, from the Democratic Labor Party, who opposes the carbon tax, who supports manufacturing jobs and who is conscious of the cost-of-living pressures that people face. He has voted and undoubtedly will vote accordingly. But here we have a request seeking to exempt four bills from the cut-off. The minister just got up and moved it and thinks he can do so without explaining to this place why it is necessary, why they could not have brought in the legislation earlier so they did not need the cut-off. He is treating this place with the sort of contempt that we have now got used to under this Labor-Green alliance, a Labor-Green alliance that is betraying the trust of the Australian people.

Let's never forget that the privilege we have to serve in this place, especially in a democracy such as ours, is based on a lot of convention, a lot of tradition and, most importantly, a lot of trust. When that trust goes, you start shaking the very foundations of the democratic process. That is why it is so important that the Australian people have confidence in the people they elect to keep their election promises. That is why the Australian people are so disgusted with the current government. Indeed, they have a right to be disgusted with what occurred in this place earlier today.

Let's not forget that five out of the six senators elected from each state at the last election were elected on a promise of no carbon tax, two out of the two senators elected from each of the territories were elected on a promise of no carbon tax, and 148 of the 150 members of the House of Representatives were also elected on a promise of no carbon tax. So the Australian people have a right to ask: 'What on earth has happened to the mandate that we gave to the people we elected? They promised us no carbon tax. How is it that, with 148 out of 150 members of the House of Representatives being elected on this promise, it passed the House of Representatives?'

How come? Because they have betrayed the people that elected them.

Ms Gillard made that promise of no carbon tax for one very simple reason: she knew that if she had said the opposite, that there would be a carbon tax, she would not have been re-elected as Prime Minister. She knows that. We all know that. She holds the prime ministership in a very tenuous set of circumstances and she has betrayed the Australian people—there is no doubt about that—as has every single Labor member, as has every single Australian Labor Party senator in this place who is now conniving to ensure that this deceit that has been perpetrated on the Australian people might actually come into law.

This motion seeks to exempt four bills from the cut-off. They deal with matters as diverse as business names registration and the national vocational education and training regulator—all good issues and ones that in general we as a coalition would support. We will be supporting the passage of this exemption from the cut-off. Why? Because we are willing to assist this government when they are unable to run their own agenda. But when they commit a deceit on the Australian people, as they have done with the carbon tax, we will not be a party to it. We will oppose and seek to oppose on every possible occasion the implementation of this carbon tax, which the Australian people were solemnly promised they would not have.

I do not know how the Labor Party members and senators look themselves in the mirror of a morning and say, 'Yes, I am really and truly representing the wishes of my electorate.' Indeed, I ask the same question about the two country Independents. I would have thought, if there was one thing that the Independents ought to be doing, it would be representing the wishes of their electorate without fear or favour. They go to the electorate saying, 'We can do this because we are not tied down by a party.' Also, an Independent surely should keep the government honest and keep it to its promises. The members for Lyne and New England have spectacularly failed on both counts in their role as Independents. They have betrayed the trust of the people that elected them. I fear that they know that and that is why they are going to keep this hapless, hopeless government on life support for as long as possible.

In doing so they may well get another year or so of parliamentary entitlements, but they will be doing untold continuing damage to the Australian nation and our economic fabric, especially if the carbon tax were to come into play, a carbon tax which will be destructive and corrosive in relation to the cost of living, where all Australians are battling. It will be destructive and corrosive in relation to jobs and job security. We know it will do nothing for the environment because day after day we ask this hapless, hopeless government at question time, 'What difference will it make to the environment?' No answer. We ask about the impact on jobs and they pretend there will be jobs growth. They pretend there will be economic growth because of it and that it is all good. The only problem I have is that, if it is all so good, why did they say 'no carbon tax' before the last election? What has happened in the last 12 months?

As I am on my feet I fear that the hapless Clerk, who undoubtedly does a wonderful job but has been given the task of presenting these bills to the Senate, has arrived at the Senate door—a very sad day, a very sad moment. I am sorry to pick on the Clerk. I do not do so in a personal manner. All the clerks in both houses do a fantastic job and act according to the will expressed in votes by either house. But this Clerk has the task of presenting these bills that are a deceit on the Australian people. They are bills that should never have seen the light of day because we were promised no carbon tax. They should never have got through the House of Representatives because the members who were elected down there, 148 of them, all promised no carbon tax. They rolled over, I fear at the behest of Senator Bob Brown and the Greens. It is a tragic day for Australia that this has happened and now these bills have been, as I speak, transmitted up here, which is also a very sad occasion. We will have a debate on those bills, but they are a betrayal of the Australian people and the trust that they placed in their elected representatives.

As I said earlier, the government have trouble with their timetable. The government are struggling in relation to the cut-off for certain legislation. Why? Because they cannot get their house in order; they cannot run the show as a mature and proper government should be able to run the show. We will assist them in allowing the cut-off to be exempted in relation to legislation which we in general terms support. Nevertheless, we say to the government: if you want an exemption on a matter, do the courteous and decent thing. Explain to the chamber why it is necessary and important. Do not just rely on the Labor-Greens alliance to shunt everything through this Senate without even explaining anything. Do not rely on them to continually guillotine legislation. You might be able to win the votes in this place, but one thing you are not doing is winning the hearts and minds of our fellow Australians in relation to this important matter of the carbon tax. I will conclude my remarks by saying we will always cooperate to make sure that this place works as efficiently as possible, but we will never be party to the sort of deceit that Labor and the Greens are seeking to perpetrate with the carbon tax.