I want to start by echoing the thoughts of Senator Macdonald, particularly for those in Townsville, close to his home town, and for those in the north-west as well, which is obviously still suffering. I acknowledge the message that Senator Macdonald said in that regard.
Read MoreI think that speech sums up the coalition government. All they have on energy policy is a scare campaign. They have been in government for five years, and all they can come up with, three months before an election, is a scare campaign. Let's look at their record. Under their record, prices are up, emissions are up and reliability is down. That is what they have achieved from five years of LNP government. When they come before an election, they...
Read MoreI rise to support this motion. I want to talk about the importance of this legislation before the Australian people. What I know and what I've observed from Queensland is that we know that there's a high level of cynicism about politics at the moment, and we know that the primary vote for major parties has been suffering as a result. I think it's important that we take every step possible to ensure that the public have confidence in Australian...
Read MoreIt was good to see Senator O'Sullivan finish as he started. I, too, want to talk about an issue that confronts, increasingly, regional Australia. Acting Deputy President Duniam, I know the long-term plight of workers in regional communities, particularly those associated with energy and power stations, is an issue you have been concerned about and is of particular concern to me.
Read MoreI wanted to talk about why this issue is important. Unlike Senator Williams over there, I can't just dismiss this because it was a period of time ago. This is an important and substantial story. This is the last substantial job that the current Prime Minister did before he entered parliament, so it's absolutely legitimate that he is held accountable for the role that he played in that.
Read MoreYou don't grow an economy stronger by changing Prime Minister every couple of years, and that's exactly what we've done. What the question from Senator McAllister did was highlight a horror week for this government. We got an unbelievable response from Senator Cormann, the government's Senate leader. This was his quote. He said that Australians 'know what they are getting under us'. That just inspires me to look at their record. When we look a...
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