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

Thank you, Mr President, and I thank the Senate for their consideration. This is a chance for the crossbench to show who they really are, to show whether they stand up for low-paid workers, whether they stand up for working families or whether they are just going to jump into bed with the government, who has had low-paid Australians in its sights ever since it was elected. This is the chance for One Nation and Senator Xenophon and his team to show us whether they really are prepared to stand up for low-paid workers in this country or whether they are 'Liberal lite'. Let me tell you what we have seen from the Nick Xenophon Team and the One Nation team.

In relation to the Nick Xenophon Team, we certainly see what their values are by their preparedness to ditch process in this place for a set of secret deals around cuts to family payments, which we saw at 10.15. Let's understand that they signed up to a motion that went to debate at 10.15. So we know what Senator Xenophon's team thinks when it comes to democratic processes: they like them when it suits them.

On One Nation, well, do you know what they are? They are Liberal patsies. That is what they are. They are just Liberal patsies; they really are. Every time George Brandis says, 'Jump', Senator Pauline Hanson says, 'How high?' Senator Hanson's team says, 'How high?' You have an opportunity now, Senator Hanson and your team. You have an opportunity now, Senator Kakoschke-Moore, Senator Griff and Senator Xenophon. Do you stand up for working people and their penalty rates or not? Do you—through you, Madam Deputy President—stand up for working people and their penalty rates?

Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting—