Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I start by not having a short memory. I sat on that side of the chamber during the debate on the privatisation of Telstra. Notwithstanding the promises Senator Joyce made to the Queensland public when he promised he would vote against it and voted for it in the end, what we saw, even during the committee stage, was that your minister was so inept and feeble that you actually orchestrated your own Dorothy Dix speakers to take up time during the guillotine of the committee stage of the privatisation of Telstra. Absolutely disgraceful: you were so afraid of scrutiny that your minister was unable to answer the questions in this chamber that you organised people using a guillotine in that bill.

Then we had WorkChoices, the most vicious anti-family working bill that you have ever seen put before the Australian public—rammed through, I am reminded by good Senator Collins, both houses in one day. You are shameless to stand here and pretend you have anything other than contempt for this chamber. (Time expired)