Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Birmingham) and the Minister for Sport and Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services (Senator Colbeck) to the questions without notice asked today by Senator Gallagher, Senator Ayres and Senator Ciccone.

Before I go to my prepared remarks, can I just indicate that we would normally be finished this part of the day, but we've had 45 minutes of hearing about what it's like in this building—the stench of the place! It's like swimming in a sewer. And the king of the sewer rats is Mr Morrison, leading them along a path of deception. What a way to end the year. What a way to close out this year—another year of scandals. Another year of jobs for the mates, press releases with no policy, rorts, botched vaccine rollouts, backflips and lies after lies. And they delivered the same performance in question time today.

The government of Liberal and National members and senators had two major jobs this year: it needed to establish proper quarantine facilities and it needed to roll out the vaccine. It still has not established proper quarantine facilities, and people are now facing Christmas asking: 'Are we going to be okay?' They're worried because the government hasn't done its job. And people should be worried, because this government has not done its job and does not deserve to be re-elected. The government needed to roll out a vaccine; instead, we got a strollout and an 'Oops, I forgot to order.' That's the quality of the government. It needs to be kicked out.

The cabinet have been just as hapless. They have had an NDIS minister constantly undermine the scheme and call it 'welfare for life'—that's what they call it. They had an industry minister at war with Australia's car industry and, allegedly, with her own staff. They have a communications minister more interested in attacking online critics of the government than in building the NBN—fixing that whole piece of infrastructure that they totally stuffed up across the country.

Of course, we haven't seen any legislation to establish a federal integrity commission—and you can see why in their answers to questions today, in the debate that has ensued since question time finished, and in this litany of failures of a corrupt and incompetent government. It's been a significant year for the Liberal and Nationals parties, to hide their dirty deeds behind public-interest immunity claims. They are hiding the dirty deals that they do, saying it's 'not in the public interest' to put them out for critique or for the Senate to have oversight. They've blacked out FOI requests. They've constantly rorted government funds, using taxpayers' dollars as their own personal re-election funds. When it comes to accountability, it's only ever 'Silent Night' for those opposite.

In these historic times, the government has fallen far short of the ambition that the moment requires. This is a listless, drifting government. It has no integrity and no vision. Throughout all of 2021—and the seven long years before we had to watch this shameless display—it has been a government characterised by the way it has completely and totally let down the women of Australia. Mr Morrison and his cabinet have fallen short even of my ever-diminishing expectations of what they might be able to do.

When it comes to the treatment of women in this place and outside, they have abjectly failed 50 per cent of the population. They do not deserve another term. They deserve to be kicked out. Mr Morrison's failure to meet the moment, his pettifogging and his refusal to hold his ministers accountable are a shame on this entire place. I only hope that the women of Australia remember how those opposite, the Liberal and National Party members here, have let them down at every opportunity.

Here are the 12 days of Scott Morrison's Christmas for the Australian people: 12 jobs for his mates, 11 months of policy inaction, 10 days of sitting until next August, nine glossy blue brochures, eight sitting days of chaos, seven vaccine targets missed, six car parks cancelled, at least five backflips, four ministerial resignations, three fewer senators to count on in this chamber, too many lies, and one big botched rollout. Australia, that's your Christmas present from Mr Morrison. He's no Santa. Instead of good governance, we've had zero integrity commissions, zero women's budget statements, zero action on housing affordability and zero accountability from those opposite. It's been a year of power without glory. Do not give them the chance to continue next year in the same way. (Time expired)