Senator CICCONE (Victoria—Deputy Government Whip in the Senate) (15:20): I think it's fair to say that the very late sitting we had last night, thanks to those opposite filibustering until four o'clock this morning, is a clear indication of the quality of questions that we have from those opposite. Senator McGrath: Point of order, Deputy President: the coalition was not filibustering last night. I would ask that Senator Ciccone withdraw that outrageous and hurtful allegation. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I'm not sure it gets to 'outrageous' or 'hurtful', but I'm sure Senator Ciccone will reflect on his language. Senator CICCONE: As always, Deputy President, I don't intend to hurt anyone, but certainly filibustering is an accurate description. Regardless, my point is the quality of the questions we had today in question time from those opposite. We'd expect it from some others, predominantly those on the crossbench—with the greatest of respect to them—but the quality of the questions that we had from the coalition today was quite outrageous. We had minister after minister providing answers to questions that were put to them, particularly around inflation, the cost of living and spending, but the coalition senators have been ignoring the fact that this government, having been in power for less than one year, has had a hell of a job of trying to fix up the mess of the last decade. It's always important to put the facts on the table. I know those opposite, particularly three of my favourite senators over there, love facts on the table. My first question is: who racked up a trillion dollars of debt and had nothing to show for it? It was the coalition. Who had a spike in power prices just before the last federal election and didn't tell voters about it? It was the coalition. Who spent almost a decade deliberately putting downward pressure on wages growth? It was the coalition. Who also spent almost a decade telling the automotive industry to go away and not invest in domestic manufacturing here in Australia? Senator Chisholm: The coalition. Senator CICC ONE: That's right, Senator Chisholm—the coalition. The Australian people decided: 'We want a change of government. We're going to voting for an Albanese Labor government, which will invest in health, education and jobs and make sure our sovereign capability gets back up to scratch.' Now that the Australian people have made that choice, those opposite come in here, every single day that we sit, and lecture us. They lecture the government while we try to clear up their mess, and they try to pretend that their mess never existed. They're embarrassed about the problems they created. They don't want to take ownership of it. It is the case that we were here till very late this morning—4.15 to be precise—listening to contributions by those opposite on a number of bills that we had before this parliament. A tip for those opposite, particularly the Nationals and Liberal colleagues: being in opposition is hard; I understand that. It is always hard being on the losing side. I get that. I was there for three years, but I learnt a lot. By learning a lot, I'm now on this side of the chamber, with my lovely colleagues, implementing reforms and making changes in the interests of working people. As a senator, I value working with everyone across the chamber, as you would all know. I think it's actually much healthier for democracies, for parliaments, for chambers like this Senate, when we are actually all working together in the national interest, rather than the sort of short-term political point scoring that we see from those opposite. But the coalition makes it very, very difficult. I suspect that when they get up every morning they go to their tactics and say: 'Right; how are we going to say no to Labor's policy reforms? How are we going to say no to making the lives of working people better?' Their tactics must be fascinating, because they're having to deal with not only those in the sensible centre but also those on the fringes who are constantly against the interests of working people. When this government comes into this place and has an approach, how do we work with senators? I hate to say it to those opposite, but the only common sense we're getting at the moment is from the crossbench, who are willing to sit down and work with the government to tackle the cost-of-living issues, to tackle investments in manufacturing and also to invest in the very people that elected us to this great place.