Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

One of the things that I've learnt in my six years as a senator—from having the opportunity to sit on those benches over there as well as these benches over here—is that government's not easy. And, arguably, it shouldn't be. It's a very important job: looking after the Australian people, delivering for the Australian people, taking the problems that Australian people are dealing with and coming up with solutions that address those problems in a way that is consistent with what Australians want to see. Government is not easy; in fact, sometimes it is very, very difficult.

Governments generally, but particularly in the 21st century, have some incredibly complex problems to deal with. We experienced it in the coalition when we were in government and we were faced with a pandemic in particular, which occurred during my time in the Senate. And, indeed, this Labor government also has some complex problems that it is dealing with: issues like tax reform, housing, lifting Australia's productivity. But what we saw last week which has been the subject of questions in this place today and indeed yesterday was the government's attempt to respond to those problems merely by convening roundtables and having talkfests—and I'm sure there'll be a bunch of fascinating discussion papers that come out of those conversations—instead of actually giving the Australian community what they want, which is action.

The funny thing is that, when the government invites all these people into Parliament House or whatever venue they choose to have these conversations and talkfests, I'm sure some genuinely quite good ideas are raised, but some genuinely odd ideas are also raised. This whole concept of a tax on spare bedrooms in family homes is an incredibly odd idea. I would have hoped that, in this chamber today, we might have got a little bit of clarity from the government about whether or not this is an idea that they will be pursuing, because, frankly, the idea of taxing any room in the family home when, currently, they're not subject to one is completely odd. I applaud my colleagues that have likewise said just how odd it is. That's a somewhat silly example that the government should have ruled out straightaway.

The other thing that the government should have done, coming out of those conversations last week, was actually articulate what action they're going to take to deal with these issues that Australians are facing. The Australian community is crying out for action to solve these problems, to solve issues around housing, to examine whether our tax system could be fairer, to lift productivity, because we know that all Australians will be better off if we can lift productivity, but the government's answer to these problems, like I say, is to just keep talking about them and talking about them and not actually propose any policies.

One of the benefits for the government of being on that side of the chamber—one of the benefits for any party of having the honour of calling itself the Australian government and being in a position to deliver for the Australian people—is that it is your responsibility to come up with the policies to deal with these issues. But, over the last three years, we've seen a government which talks about problems, talks about problems, talks about problems—and that's great; it's great that they've identified issues that Australians care about deeply. But the time for talking about those problems, frankly, I think, was over in the last parliament. For this new government to host another talkfest as one of the first things it does in this parliament is, I think, sadly, us just seeing more of the same—more of this talking about the problem and not actually bringing forward solutions that are going to give the Australian people what they want. So we will keep asking questions because Australians deserve to know what this government is actually planning to do to solve these problems. (Time expired)