Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, if you could stand up and list those achievements, I would be very surprised. Once again, Senator Brandis gave extremely disappointing answers to all our questions today regarding the Turnbull government's achievements, probably because there are not many achievements for him to mention—although I will point out one later on in my contribution.

But he is not alone, of course, in being unable to explain any real achievements of this government. He is joining other senior Liberal figures like Peta Credlin and Jeff Kennett. Then we have the members of the media, people that are normally so supportive of the government, like Piers Akerman, who said:

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull may well be the most over-qualified underachiever ever to occupy the Lodge.

Well, that is a good sign of the good year that the government has had, isn't it!

We have seen, as I said, a year of failure from Mr Turnbull and his underachieving government. No wonder Mr Joyce is poised, ready to roll him. And didn't Senator Nash let the cat out of the bag today when she started talking about the Joyce-Turnbull government? Absolutely. So we will be watching that to see what happens.

This is a government in chaos. It is dysfunctional. It is not working. It is not able to work together. There are so many divisions within its party room and within its party that it is not funny. It has been not working for so long that in Tasmania it lost three out of five seats. It lost three seats! The 'three amigos' were categorically kicked out and told 'go away', and that is because this government has failed to achieve any successes—certainly from the Tasmanian people's point of view—in any way, shape or form.

There seems to be a continuous struggle within the Turnbull government, and that means that they are failing to address any of the needs of the people of Australia. It has been a year of huge disappointment. We have had the deficit and net debt both continue to balloon on this Prime Minister's watch. Mr Turnbull came to government, if you remember, claiming that he was going to deliver economic leadership. Well, that has not happened. But, also, his big claim was that he was going to lead and unite his party. Well, we are still waiting to see that happen. He has failed spectacularly.