Senate debates

Tuesday, 21 August 2018

Matters of Public Importance

Turnbull Government

4:14 pm

Photo of Andrew BartlettAndrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The item before us in the Senate at the moment, described as a matter of public importance, 'The inability of the Turnbull Government to progress any coherent policy or legislative agenda,' which has been put forward by the Labor Party as a chance for the Senate to spend an hour talking about the travails of the Turnbull Liberal-National Party coalition government, is very similar to what we had yesterday. As I said yesterday, I don't think that's particularly important; what is important is the horrendous and growing inequality in our community, the massive danger we are facing from extreme climate change, the lack of action in regard to dealing with that, the lack of action in regard to homelessness in our community, the refusal to increase the rate of Newstart, and the continuing punishment of the poor. Unfortunately, punishing the poor and favouring the wealthiest is a coherent policy of this government. The problem is not the internal enmity in the Liberal and National parties, who both have their own significant difficulties; the problem is that their ideological and legislative agenda, such as it is, specifically makes life much harder for the majority of Australians and, inasmuch as they can manage to implement it, assists the big end of town.

Some important things, though, are becoming even more clear as a result of the shambles that this government currently is in—that is, the very understandable and massive disillusionment of the majority of the Australian community with the entire political system. This government currently has huge difficulties, but that's just a manifestation of its internal philosophical incoherence and lack of solid value base that has been there for many years. That's why so many people, young and old, think our political system is broken. The public can see it every day. On days like today they can see it very starkly, but they know it's there every day. It's not because of the personal disputes, the leadership squabbles, the travails of the previous Prime Minister, or the accusations back and forth about section 44 of the Constitution; our political system is broken because the majority of people in this building—not just the elected representatives but so much of the press gallery as well—are so caught up in the irrelevant soap opera within this little bubble that they're don't care about what happens in the real world outside.

We see today the consequences of that: the suffering of so many people because of homelessness, poverty, inadequate wages, insecure jobs, massive financial pressures and inadequate health services; the people facing horrendous, unimaginable suffering on Nauru or Manus Island; and the massive environmental damage that is happening because of the lack of action—or, in some cases, deliberate action—that causes further harm to the environment. But it is not just a feeling; it is a recognition. People don't just sense things are broken; they know it and can see it. That is what is important, and it is important not just today; it is important every day. The fact that it's normally covered up by a veneer of nice words around the place hasn't stopped people from seeing that. Days like today are just when it breaks through the surface and people can see the political process in this country for the joke and shambles that it is.

A report today in The Guardian is headlined, 'Overwhelming majority of Australians believe federal politicians are corrupt'. That's a matter of public importance, not the squabbles amongst the Liberal Party at the moment. They believe that about federal politicians in general, all of us here. That's what we should be concerned about. That research showed:

About 85% of respondents said they believed some, most or all of the federal members of parliament were corrupt …

Perhaps that poll was a little bit rubbery. Perhaps it's a little bit larger than might reflect general public views—maybe 85 per cent is a bit high—but, frankly, if you're getting above 10 or 20 per cent of people feeling that, we're in big trouble. A clear majority of people feel the political process is broken, is corrupted. That doesn't mean they think everybody has money coming in in brown paper bags; they recognise that the process is corrupt and broken.

The soap opera stuff we're seeing today occupies the minds—I would guarantee—of 90 per cent of people in this building. That's all they're talking about right now: the latest piece of gossip about the internal machinations of the Liberal Party. We all know that a month or so ago, before those by-elections, it was all gossip about whether the Leader of the Opposition was in some difficulties, and everybody could talk about that. That this process works to focus on those sorts of things, so we can all just ignore the fact that this parliament is delivering outcomes that are not working for the Australian community, is the matter of public importance, not the failures of the Turnbull government.

Another extremely telling quote—anonymous but genuine nonetheless, I assume—came out today from a worried Liberal backbencher in a Sydney Morning Herald article by Peter Hartcher about the whole situation and why the minds of the members of the Liberal Party are so occupied at the moment:

A lot of our people are facing that fact that they are in the last six months of their political careers. They've got houses, school bills, cars that they've set up for themselves on the basis that they're earning $200,000 plus—

Of course, as we all know, federal parliamentarians get cars as part of the salary package on top of earning $200,000 plus—

What do they do if they're suddenly out of work?

Welcome to the real world! You're getting over $200,000 a year and a car and phones and everything else, and you're worried you might be out of work? That's what's exercising the minds of members of the government. How about exercising your minds about all of those Australians who are already out of work and all those Australians who are in full-time work and getting $40,000 or $30,000 a year and don't get everything with it? Exercise your minds about that for a bit! No wonder people think the system is broken. Of course people want to hang onto their jobs. I understand that—speaking as somebody who is about to give up their job at the end of this week in an attempt to try to change things by focusing on winning a lower house seat—

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