Lucy Gichuhi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator O'Neill, for reminding us about all the things that can go wrong with a government. I wonder when we are going to come to this Senate and listen to policy and policy matters and for once hear, whether Labor or Liberal, government telling us what is good in this country. When I hear words like 'instability', all I know is that, clearly, in Australia we have never seen an unstable government. This happens in other parts of the world and we know that. We should stop for a moment and consider what good is happening with this government, our government. The Morrison government is on your side—you the Australian—because of the values and the beliefs we share with Australians.

Today in question time we heard all these questions about the Middle East and about the National Party leadership. Clearly, every mum and dad out there on the streets isn't interested in those kinds of things. What they want to know is that the Morrison government, our government, is focused on making the economy stronger. Whether they're in New South Wales, where Wentworth is, whether they're in Tasmania or whether they're in my home state of South Australia, what every Australian wants to know is: 'Am I safe? Do I have a job if I need one? Is my business going to pay more or less tax?'

I look forward to the time that we make good use of our question time and talk about what the government, our government, is doing. This week we have seen the legislation of the small and family business tax cut. That has come forward five years early. This is what we need to be talking about. Nobody needs to be scared. We don't need to scare Australians. We don't need to instil fear that doesn't exist. Everybody wants to wake up and enjoy the good this country has to offer and let the leaders govern. Spills or no spills, they are part of the democracy and we have to let them happen and stop consuming our every day.

This government has started the royal commission into aged care. These are the things we need focus on: how this government, our government, is taking care of our seniors. The government is committed to our older Australians with access to care that supports their dignity and recognises the contribution that they have made to their society. These are the kinds of questions and policies that we need to be deliberating on during question time, not shouting at each other as though we have nothing else to do. Total aged-care funding is growing from $8.16 billion to $8.68 billion over the forward estimates. This is the kind of thing—the good news story—that every Australian walking on the streets needs to know.

On the GST, every state is going to be better off than before. The government's fairer GST deal leaves no state worse off and delivers real change to the system. Our government has taken the bull by the horns to address the issues that no other government has had the courage to deal with. So these are the kinds of things that, in question time, we need to spend time talking about. The economy has grown stronger. There are more jobs. Our economy is growing stronger, and every Australian in every part of this country needs to know that the economy will grow stronger and stronger, one year after the other. That is what our government is promising to do.