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

I want to make some remarks about this address-in-reply debate. I say at the outset that I exempt Senator Payne from the comments I am about to make, because that was an important contribution about the role that the ADF continues to play, and we join with her in her remarks about their service. Leaving her aside, it has been quite an interesting debate, hasn't it, Madam Acting Deputy President O'Neill?

This address-in-reply debate, which has been going on for some hours now, really confirms what Labor said in the election. We said in the election that Mr Turnbull and his government have no agenda. We said in the election that Mr Turnbull and his government have no plan and no ideas, and today in the Senate that has been demonstrated. For some three hours we have seen speaker after speaker from the government side filibuster in a desperate attempt to keep this chamber running until question time. They literally have nothing to talk about. They have no content. The only thing they have a lot of content on, the only thing they have an excess supply of, is division. They have got a lot of that: division on marriage equality; division on superannuation; division on donations reform. In fact, you have to work hard to keep up with the number of splits in the government at the moment, because every new blog tells us another story about another split.

This is the government of Australia we are talking about. Some of us in politics might look at this and think how amusing it is that the Prime Minister is under attack by his own backbench, by the former Prime Minister and by former cabinet ministers, but the hard and sad reality of it is that this division brings with it paralysis. It brings with it an inability to govern. What we have seen this morning in this chamber is a government so divided they are paralysed and unable to govern. They are unable to bring into this chamber a single piece of legislation. We even had the spectacle of cabinet ministers of this country, Senator Sinodinos and Senator Canavan, being dragged into this place for the sole purpose of keeping the Senate sitting until question time. You would think they have nothing to do—they are only ministers of the cabinet!

In the meantime, we have been subject to some stunning displays of oratory from the other side. Senator McGrath regaled the house with his love of the Last Night of the Proms music concert, which he described as one of his favourite TV programs. Senator Canavan told us about chia seeds and his favourite places in Western Australia. Just for good measure, Senator Reynolds used her filibuster to further embarrass the Prime Minister over section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. She read out long slabs of quotes from people who, like her—in defiance of the wishes of the Prime Minister—want section 18C repealed. Senator McGrath also told us of his love of flagpoles and relived his not so glorious days on the campaign trail with the former member for Herbert. Senator Seselja resorted to reading out a list of local Liberal candidates. But my personal highlight, my personal favourite, was Senator McKenzie not only declaring that the best thing about the election was the Nationals beating the Liberals in Mallee and that Senator Scullion is a deep thinker but also declaring her praise for the Nationals candidate in McEwen whose name she could not even remember, but who, apparently, 'runs a stockfeed store in a place starting with T.'

Colleagues, it has been 2½ months since the election. It has been four months since the parliament last sat at the commencement of the session. I think senators, the media and in fact the Australian people are asking, 'Where is this Turnbull government's agenda? Where is that plan for jobs and growth?' We have five sitting weeks left till the end of the year, and this is the government's legislation plan. It is not surprising that The Australian Financial Review and others published pieces for the weekend which looked at the Prime Minister's performance and graded him. I think he basically got a D-plus from The Financial ReviewWhat's the Latin for "I came, I did nothing, I stuck around"?' … 'I'm sure Mr Turnbull would know.'