Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann. Can the minister explain why Prime Minister Morrison has cancelled the October meeting of the COAG?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Wong for that question. Every year there are two COAG meetings; there will be two COAG meetings this year.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, a supplementary question.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian Financial Review has reported the COAG meeting was cancelled:

… in part because the leadership upheaval has left the government ill-prepared to settle funding deals on public hospitals and schools …

Isn't it clear that Mr Morrison has cancelled COAG because he has no plan to properly fund schools and hospitals?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I reject that completely. Unlike the Labor Party, we, of course, don't have to have a meeting to get something done. The Labor Party have lots of meetings, and do you know what they do at these meetings? They come up with ideas on how they can jack up taxes.

We are working every single day on how to make Australia stronger: keeping the economy strong, keeping Australians safe, making sure that funding for all the essential services that Australians rely on are guaranteed within the budget. We are working very closely with all of the state and territory governments on important funding reforms across health, education and in relation to GST-sharing arrangements as well—something the Labor Party has got a completely confused position about. I remember last week Labor senators from Tasmania were describing as a done deal something that Mr Shorten is telling people in Western Australia he supports.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong on a point of order?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is direct relevance. I note the minister couldn't explain why COAG was cancelled. I asked him as to whether it was cancelled because there was no plan to properly fund schools and hospitals.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thought he was, but his time for the answer has expired. I will call you for a final supplementary question.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why is this government too busy fighting itself to actually govern for all Australians? Is this what the Prime Minister meant when he described his government as the muppet show? I'm glad you have a brief to explain it to yourself!

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we can see, most of the Labor Party questions go into Liberal Party politics. This is the blueprint: the Labor Party asking about the Liberal Party. We are focused on the public interest. We are focused on making Australia stronger. We are focused on keeping the Australian economy strong.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And what great progress have we made on that front? We inherited from Senator Wong and the muppets in the Labor Party—Mr Shorten, Mr Bowen, Senator Wong; they were all there when Labor lost government in 2013. Do you know what they left behind? A weakening economy, rising unemployment and a rapidly deteriorating budget position. Do you know what we have now achieved? We have achieved a stronger economy, stronger employment growth, a lower unemployment rate than where people thought it would be and, of course, a much stronger budget position with a much stronger trajectory moving forward. We have— (Time expired)

Opposition senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left. That was not a good start in terms of the noise level and level of interjections on my left. If I can't hear Senator Cormann from here, there is a problem.