Page 1074 - Week 03 - Thursday, 26 February 2009
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What more can I do as a minister? What more can I do? I would ask you: what more can I do, short of going out into Civic Square, taking my shirt off and self-flagellating for my failure in this regard, what more can I do?
This shows that what the Liberal Party are really interested in here is not finding a solution to a problem or recognising the circumstances that brought this problem about; they are just interested in scoring the cheap political point. They are just interested in opposition for the sake of opposition. They are not interested in being constructive, they are not interested in listening to the facts, they are not interested in trying to be part of a solution; they are just interested in opposition for the sake of opposition. That is all they are interested in. If they were genuinely interested in the resolution of this matter, they would be voting in favour of this change in the bill.
I find the position of the Liberal Party in this whole debate to be morally bankrupt, quite frankly. It is morally bankrupt on one hand to say, “This is a problem that needs to be fixed,” and then on the other hand to say, “But we won’t be any part of the solution.” What an appalling approach! Mrs Dunne talks about cowards. If she was so firmly of the view that this matter should be dealt with in another way, why didn’t she introduce legislation to do it? If she was so firmly of the view that it should be dealt with in this manner, where is her bill—a bill that could be debated cognately on this matter to deal with it?
Mrs Dunne: Because you won’t give me leave.
MR CORBELL: Oh, she has got a bill.
Mrs Dunne: You won’t give me leave.
MR CORBELL: Have you got a bill?
Mrs Dunne: You will not give me leave.
MR CORBELL: Well, why don’t you introduce the bill, Mrs Dunne? Why doesn’t she introduce the bill? She does not have the courage of her convictions, because if she did have the courage of her convictions she would have introduced that bill. Instead, all she is interested in is opposition for the sake of opposition. That is so typical of the Liberal Party in this place. They are not interested in having a constructive dialogue. They are not interested in sharing information. They are not interested in engaging in debates leading up to the presentation of legislation. All they are interested in is scoring cheap political points. And that is what we have had from the Liberal Party today.
The government, and I as the minister, have been open and forthright on this matter from the very beginning. It did not even require my attention being drawn to this matter for me to first flag it with the standing committee in this place. I raised the matter with the standing committee in this place of my own volition. It did not take prompting from any other party in this place for me to do so. I raised it of my own volition because I understood that the decision I was taking was an unusual one and it was in unusual circumstances. So, as minister, and having regard to the processes of
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