Senator CAMERON (New South Wales) (18:48): I'd like to take note of the minister's clarification. This was a pathetic performance from this minister during question time. I'm not surprised that she was forced to come in here and make a clarification. This minister had not a clue about what she was trying to deal with here, and this is part of this government's attack on what is a reasonable proposition to make sure that people that are getting a dividend imputation have to pay tax. They should not get a tax refund if they have not paid any tax. This is a nonsense position from this government. If you go back to where this started, former Prime Minister John Howard, rolling in cash coming in from the mining boom, was trying to placate every group in the economy and across the country that had a gripe with the then Howard government by throwing money at them. That's exactly where this dividend imputation rort came in. Government senators interjecting— Senator CAMERON: It's all right for the National Party, bellowing away as they are. You understand that this was a John Howard rort that we are trying to fix and will fix in government because we are concerned to make sure that we've got enough funding for hospitals, health, education and infrastructure. These are the key issues for Labor and we're going to make sure that those that should be paying tax are paying tax. This was Senator Fierravanti-Wells in attack mode, trying to attack what is a good policy position, and she couldn't even do that with her prepared answers. This is a government, as I've said before, that is in terminal decline and a government that doesn't understand what the key issues are for working people in this country. They just don't get it. Senator Fierravanti-Wells comes in here, completely out of her depth at question time, is incapable of giving a proper response and then has to suffer the humiliation of coming back in here and saying that she'd got it wrong. The government have got this wrong. The government have got their whole position on dividend imputation completely wrong. They keep saying that this is about pensioners. This is predominantly about self-funded superannuants who are getting tax refunds for tax that they never paid. That was never, ever the reason why dividend imputation was introduced, and former Prime Minister Paul Keating has been clear and unequivocal about that position. The Grattan Institute has clearly belled the cat when it comes to the coalition trying to misrepresent the position, and again we have Senator Fierravanti-Wells coming in here misrepresenting the position and trying to indicate that poor people are suffering because of the proper policy that Labor has introduced on dividend imputation. Senator Fierravanti-Wells is completely out of her depth and is just making statements that are wrong. But it's not just Senator Fierravanti-Wells who has been making statements that are wrong—it's the government, trying to protect the rich, trying to protect the powerful and trying to protect their mates at the big end of town against ordinary working families that don't get this type of refund that the rich and powerful get because of decisions that John Howard made many years ago. This is simply another example of a government that will say anything and do anything to try and mislead the public. You're in so much trouble that you can't even get prepared answers correct when you come to question time. You've got a frontbench who don't understand the key issues for ordinary Australians in this country, don't understand the need for a good education, don't understand the need for a decent health system and don't understand that you can't keep throwing money at people who don't deserve it. You can't keep throwing money at people who don't need it. You should actually be putting money into the key issues that are important for building a decent society and a decent economy in this country—and they are education, health and dealing with inequality. All you as a coalition want to do is continue inequality in this country—look after the rich and powerful at the expense of the poorest people in this country; look after your rich mates; look after those who are putting money into your pockets at election time. That's exactly what your lot do. And now we have Minister Fierravanti-Wells having to come in here, humiliated because she couldn't even get the basics right during question time. She can't get the basics right because your Prime Minister can't get the basics right. Your Prime Minister is trying to mislead the public on this issue. The Prime Minister doesn't have a clue about what's important to working families in this country. Why would he have a clue, living in his mansion on the shores of Sydney Harbour? He's so divorced from the reality that families face day in, day out, trying to pay their rates, trying to pay power bills, trying to put food on the table. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator O'Sullivan ): Senator, resume your seat. Minister? Senator Canavan: A point of order, Mr Acting Deputy President, on relevance. I believe the question before the chair is to take note of the ministerial statement that has been made. I respectfully point out that the senator is now departing into issues around someone in the other chamber. It is completely devoid— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Canavan, resume your seat. There's no point of order. Senator CAMERON: I'll just take up where I left off. We have a Prime Minister who has not got a clue what it's like for ordinary working families in this country to battle to pay their rent, pay their mortgage, make sure they've got power coming to the house, make sure their kids can get school shoes to go to school. He would not have a clue, and if he had a clue then he would not be going down the track of continuing what was a rort by John Howard and by the weakest, worst Treasurer we've ever had in this country in Peter Costello—a Treasurer that was too weak to stand up to a Prime Minister that wanted to throw money out to the richest in the country just to make sure he got their vote at the election. This is a government that is following in the footsteps of the Howard government by trying to maintain rorts to the rich and powerful in this country at the expense of working families. Any day, I'll look after the ordinary working-class people in this country against those that are sitting in their mansions on the shores of Sydney Harbour, picking up refunds for dividend imputation that they never paid any tax on. Where is the sense in that? Commentators around the country have got you guys well and truly picked on this. This is just an absolute rort that you are engaging in. There is absolutely no economic sense at all in what you are doing. You claim to be the party of economic responsibility, the grown-up party. Well, we've seen the grown-up party in action—an absolute rabble of a party, an absolute rabble of a government that is absolutely unconcerned about the key issues that affect ordinary working people. And that's why Senator Fierravanti-Wells had to come in here, humiliate herself and admit that she'd got it wrong and had misled us again. This is a government that will mislead the public every chance it gets, because it doesn't care about the key issues that are required for workers to actually feed their families, get their kids to school and pay for their transport to get to work. The problems working families have got do not matter; all you lot want to do is keep the rorts that John Howard put in place for the rich and powerful. You are an absolute disgrace, and Senator Fierravanti-Wells should well look after her position in future. (Time expired)