Senator BERNARDI (South Australia) (15:07): Following Senator Carr, I cannot help but reflect that if he were an educated man and had a PhD of his own, he would be a doctor of negativity because all he can do is criticise and carp and whine. He is critical of the free-trade agreements that this government has finalised, which the previous government failed to do. He is critical of the G20. He is just down on Australia. It is the most appalling indictment of a former minister of the Crown. Now, he is critical of the National ICT Australia initiative—an initiative, might I point out, that was introduced by the Howard government in 2002. This government is committed to funding that with $85 million over the next two years. It was always intended to be one of those significant points of difference between those who support free enterprise and industry and those who support government welfare and dependency on the other side. NICTA, when it was started, was an incubator. It was starting an embryonic thing that was funded by government until it could stand alone. Standing alone means having investment in it, not just government and taxpayer funds but private investment from domestic and international organisations. And that is precisely the conversation that the minister is having with the Chancellor of Germany. It is about getting private funding from German companies interested in investing in Australia. Somehow that is an abandonment of a great initiative of the Howard government. It is nonsense. The problem we have with Senator Carr is: as an industry minister, he presided over the demise and the closure of the motor vehicle manufacturing facilities in this country. He was the guy whose great incentive, whose great mission to embrace new technology was to send SMSs into outer space in case the aliens would come along and respond to them. How could anyone take that seriously? Have you had any responses yet, Senator Carr? Has any alien got back to you yet and said, 'Hello, thanks for your kind message'? Senator Kim Carr interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator BERNARDI: Senator Carr is a bellicose former minister who failed so dreadfully in his portfolio. Now the only thing he can do is carp and moan and whine and complain. It is a bit rich to have a lecture from a former government minister who presided over $50-billion deficits, who racked up hundreds of billions of dollars of debt in his brief time in office. His was the most discredited government in the history of this country, worse than the Whitlam government. And those opposite are such sanctimonious hypocrites for defending their sandbagging. Senator Lines: Hold the mirror up. You are the most discredited. Senator BERNARDI: Senator Lines's interjecting reminds me of one of my favourite bands from the early 80s, A Flock of Seagulls, because that is what it sounds like when she is interjecting in the parliament. Senator Lines, show some courtesy. Stop chirping away and just respond to the issue before the chair. The PRESIDENT: Through the chair. Senator BERNARDI: We have a circumstance where the sanctimonious hypocrites on the other side of the chamber dare to get up and criticise— The PRESIDENT: Senator Bernardi, you might need to withdraw that. Senator BERNARDI: I withdraw the term 'hypocrite'. The sanctimonious and pious people whose words have never matched their own actions are standing up and criticising budgetary measures that are necessary to ensure our sustainability. I cannot help but reflect on the fact that some people stand up here and question our investment in our Defence Forces when the other side cut billions and billions of dollars from it. Our Defence Force capacity is probably at one of the lowest points it has been in many years. The reason for that is because they were treated like some sort of handy bank where they could withdraw the cash and stick it into these silly SMSs into outer space. It was ridiculous. You know what? I do not want to take any lectures on the use of taxpayers money from Senator Peris. I have got to say that. And I do not want to hear lectures on industry policy from Senator Carr. It is absolutely outrageous that they think they can stand up here and say to the Australian people: look at the great job we did and what a terrible job this mob is doing. Those people on the other side are down on Australia. They are down on Australia. They want to see Australia get worse. They want to see their mismanagement multiplied again and again because they think it will make them look good somehow. It is not going to work like that. We have to fix the mess that was made and no amount of chirping and whining— (Time expired)