Senator STERLE (Western Australia) (15:02): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Defence (Senator Payne) to a question without notice asked by Senator Bilyk today relating to energy policy. Senator STERLE: Oh my goodness me, what an absolute shemozzle we are seeing in this nation at the moment. I honestly don't think Hollywood could have done any better at putting out a couple of fictional episodes as the very poor show that we've seen, particularly in the last few days. Here we are going into a national debate on energy, which we've been in for about 10 years. On Tuesday morning we saw beamed live on our TV screens, and then the front pages of the next day's papers, the Prime Minister out there with Minister Frydenberg saying, 'We have locked away the national energy agreement, the NEG. It's is locked in. Everyone's backed it in. Here we go full steam ahead'. I think that lasted about 10 or 15 minutes. I'm not sure what version we're up to now. The total dysfunction of this government has actually got to the stage where it's embarrassing. It's been embarrassing for a number of years. I'm asking: who's seen this movie before? I certainly have. I can't believe it's an instant replay. Here we go again. It's the same culprits. What a bunch of backstabbing people. You wouldn't want these people anywhere near you, let alone behind you. The Prime Minister and the minister are out there saying, 'What a great job we've done. We are going to lower household electricity prices'. Then in the next instant it's led by the member for Warringah and Senator Abetz—these are the usual suspects, there's a whole gaggle of them. Then there's the usual suspects like Mr Christensen and that fellow who keeps popping up on Sky News, Mr Kelly. Seriously, Barnum and Bailey's couldn't match this outfit. It's absolutely unbelievable. While the rest of Australia sits back and thinks, 'What the hell is going on in Canberra?' And then, as I'm walking down to question time, there's Senator Molan with his homemade video—'Look at me! Look at me!' I thought I was watching Australia's Funniest Home Videos, but he was fair dinkum. He was talking into a microphone and a camera on his iPhone. But he hasn't made his decision; he'll have a look at it. He can speak for himself, but he's guaranteed the small audience that happened to walk past ABC Radio at the same time as me that a decision will be made today. My goodness me! Then we have—here we go!—the fixer, Mr Christopher Pyne, who, on this morning's radio—I'm really not making this up, seriously, but I needed this to keep the adrenaline going—actually said that the Liberal government is doing a magnificent job. Senator Bilyk: Ha! Senator STERLE: No, seriously, Senator Bilyk—'Fantastic results in the Super Saturday by-elections. The Liberal government is so successful.' I don't know how they can absolutely just erase five by-elections that happened only a month ago, when the Prime Minister himself made those by-elections on leadership. Quote me if I'm wrong, but it was about eight or nine weeks. We haven't seen anything like that. He couldn't wait to rush off to a double dissolution that cost the nation hundreds of millions of dollars instead of waiting another month, but he took eight or nine weeks to go to the Super Saturday by-elections. The father of the great candidate in Mayo got up on the TV that night and said, 'We're a bunch of nation-builders, us Downers.' I mean, seriously! It's gone from House of Cards to something that John Cleese would do. Seriously, this really is unbelievable. And there's Christopher Pyne telling us how great they've done in Longman. I've got to tell you: the last time I looked, your primary vote had a 2 in front of it, let alone that the candidate that you preselected was the Big Trev, who was going to be the next best thing. Oh, my goodness me! Why don't you just do the right thing? To the backbench over there, while you're knifing your leader in the back, while you're giving Mr Tony Abbott, the member for Warringah, in the other three-ring circus, every piece of fuel to undermine your Prime Minister and to embarrass the politicians in this nation: it's very hard to walk to suburbia and to say the majority of us, especially on this side—well, most of this side. I'll leave that corner over there out. Most of us on this side are decent people, who went into politics to make a difference. What does the nation have to put up with? I don't know what's going to happen. I actually get out of bed each morning thinking to myself, 'Could it get worse?' And you know what? It can. It gets worse every time. So I'll give those on that side a bit of advice. By the time the sycophants and the snivellers all start doing the numbers to see who'll get a promotion if you do knife your Prime Minister—we've seen it all before when you got rid of Mr Abbott—do us one favour. Why don't you just tighten your belt? Why don't you pull your pants up a little bit, tuck it in, and take it to an election? If you're that great, as Mr Pyne said, and you're doing such a great job, take us to an election. Why don't you do something decent for the nation, because—my goodness me!—Australians do not deserve this dysfunctional, childish, immature government we've got at the moment? (Time expired)