Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will try not to incite interjection. I'll go through some of the things that were referred to in question time today in response to what we, this side of the chamber—the government—think are important as opposed to insider political games, and as opposed to filling time slots on Sky News to try and add to the political intrigue, which is what so many opposite do. As I said, a million jobs have been created since 2013. That's more than 1,000 jobs per day. That's something I know that people want to know about. When I go doorknocking, as I did in Braddon, and as I did during the state election campaign, that's what people were talking about. They weren't talking about insider politics in Canberra. That wasn't of interest to them.

Although, if we are going to talk about insider politics, which is what the tone of the questions was about—and I know Senator Fifield made reference to this in his answer to Senator Chisholm's question—there was a bit of a history lesson in return, which I'm sure Senator Watt appreciated, about how collective decisions are made under the Westminster system. It is like the decision that was made in Tasmania over the weekend with regard to the Labor Senate ticket, which sadly saw Senator Singh relegated to the fourth position on the ticket again. If you want to start talking about this, we can go into what's going on in the Labor Party in Tasmania. We can talk about how Senator Singh, the most popular senator in Tasmania when it comes to the Labor side of politics, has been relegated to the fourth position, if you want to go over history.

As I said, I'd rather talk about the achievements of this government, including reducing the tax burden on the Australian people, which is a great achievement for small to medium businesses and is something that those opposite weren't too keen on at all. They thought, as I've said previously in this place, that taxpayers' money is better off in the pockets of government, so that they can spend it how they see fit: 'The government knows better than you, ladies and gentlemen of Australia! Let's rip it out of your hands and bring it down to Canberra, and we'll determine how it's spent.' That's something we reject. As has been reported on widely, this government has championed lowering taxes for small to medium businesses and indeed for individual Australian households. They know what is best. This government is listening, and we will do what is best for them, and that doesn't include playing political games—or as Senator Cormann said, political shenanigans—in Canberra. (Time expired)