Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia—Government Whip in the Senate) (15:25): You might be surprised to hear how excited I am to make a contribution immediately following Senator O'Neill. Senator O'Neill made a very revealing comment. She said, 'If you don't plan, then nothing happens.' When I was thinking about my contribution a few moments ago, I thought: 'I'm not going into the politics. This is too important a national issue.' I actually don't think that Australians are interested in the politics of aged care. I do think they are interested in the solutions. Senator Keneally interjecting— Senator DEAN SMITH: Senator Keneally, hear me out. You won't be surprised, because I'm someone that guesses that you watch the media very regularly—watch your tweets, watch Twitter. I'll come to the ABC's comments about the false claims that Richard Marles made just a few days ago. ABC Fact Check— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Smith, please refer to those in the other place by their correct title and address the chair, not the individual senators. Senator DEAN SMITH: Thank you very much. I thought you were going to call me to order about using a prop. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I didn't see that, but you've self-confessed. Senator DEAN SMITH: I was thinking to myself: 'Do we want to talk about the politics, or do we want to talk about the substance of the issue?' because this is a very significant and important issue. What the royal commission interim report makes very clear is that not just this government but all governments, over a long period of time, could have done better in planning for and building a better aged-care system. Senator Keneally is not going to jump to her feet and dispute that claim, because that's a correct claim, and that's what the royal commission report actually says. But what we've seen in the brief contributions thus far this afternoon is Labor Party senators not being able to resist the opportunity to go right to the politics on this issue rather than the substance. No-one disputes that calling the royal commission was necessary. No-one disputes that. No-one disputes much of what has been reported in the interim report, because it's been done by credible royal commissioners. There will be debate, absolutely, about what is the correct future course for aged care in our country. But nothing displays, nothing holds out, the rawness of the politics of Labor on this aged-care issue more than this one fact: on 18 May, Australians had an opportunity to cast their judgement about what future government they wanted and, yes, they chose the coalition for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons they didn't vote for Labor, and one of the reasons older Australians didn't vote for Labor, was this: guess how much Labor talked about aged care in the weeks and the months leading up to 18 May? How much of his time did Bill Shorten spend talking about aged care? Not— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Smith, please refer to those in the— Senator DEAN SMITH: very much and— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Smith, I'm calling you to order. Senator DEAN SMITH: I'm sorry. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Please refer to those in the other place by their correct titles. Senator DEAN SMITH: The former Leader of the Opposition—during the election campaign, how much time did he spend talking about aged care? How much? Zilch. More telling is this point: in Labor's own budget documents, in its own financial plan for this country, guess how much money the former Leader of the Opposition, supported by all these Labor opposition senators, committed to aged care in our country? Was it a million? No. Not one red cent. Now they march into the chamber, very brazen, talking about the aged-care royal commission. But, in the weeks and months leading up to 18 May, they did not talk about it and, more damningly, they did not commit one red cent. The challenge for Senator Keneally and Senator Marielle Smith, in their five-minute contributions, is this: stand up and say that you were going to put more money into aged care. You can't say it, because you were not going to do it. Their politics on the aged-care royal commission are brazen, and it's only a matter of time before they get found out. I draw your attention, Senator Keneally—and I hope you'll refer to it in your contribution— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Keneally, a point of order? Senator Keneally: Firstly, I ask Senator Smith not to reflect on who is in the chamber and who is enjoying his remarks. Secondly, it may disappoint him to know I'm not here to make a contribution in this debate. Thirdly, he is using a prop. Senator DEAN SMITH: It's a very good prop— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Smith! In response to the point of order: on that occasion he was reading from paper, so I don't accept that point of order. But, yes, we don't reflect on whether people are in the chamber or not. Senator DEAN SMITH: My apologies. I encourage everyone who is interested in this issue to look at the ABC Fact Check of Tuesday 12 November this week. It's headed, 'A year after we fact checked this misleading claim'—Labor's claim—'on aged care, Richard Marles repeated it.' (Time expired)