Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I take the interjection. There are so many examples but, on this occasion, this example is Mr Abbott saying this, 'A fair go is the least a grateful nation can offer to serving and former military personnel.' Well, the question this minister has never answered is how he can defend cutting real pay and cutting leave, and how that is a fair go.

This minister needs to be censured. He has already been cut adrift by his own colleagues, from the Prime Minister down. The Prime Minister issued a statement last night which is nothing other than a statement of no confidence in this minister, a statement which completely repudiates the minister's comments. The Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Mr Briggs, said his comments were wrong. Senator Birmingham said, and I agree with him, there is no excuse for the minister's denigration of the workforce—