Tudge, Alan, MP

Mr TUDGE (Aston—Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population) (12:14): We should be clear about what this motion is doing— Honourable members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Goodenough ): Order! The minister will be heard in silence. Mr TUDGE: because this motion is wanting to suspend standing orders in order to allow the Labor Party to play Canberra politics. That is what this is about. Those who are listening in to this broadcast should understand exactly what a suspension motion is about. It's about the opposition coming in and attempting to change the ordinary business of the day. So what are they suspending from discussion right now? Mr Dick interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Oxley is warned! Mr TUDGE: Are they concerned about what the next debate is on the agenda? Mr Dick interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Oxley! Mr TUDGE: Let me tell the listeners and let me tell this chamber exactly what they have interrupted from being debated. The next item on the list to discuss is, in fact, a bill in relation to family and domestic violence. Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members, there is far too much noise. Mr TUDGE: So the Labor Party are coming in to suspend standing orders because they don't want to discuss family and domestic violence. That is what they're doing. After that bill is completed there is a higher education support bill on the agenda to be discussed today in this parliament. Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The minister will resume his seat. There is far too much noise in the chamber. The minister will be heard in silence. I call the minister. Mr TUDGE: They clearly don't like having it pointed out to them what they are doing. They want to have a debate on Canberra internal politics, the inside games which go on this building, which they love so much, yet they don't want to debate domestic violence, they don't want to debate higher education support and they don't want to debate the next item after that—Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory. These are the three items on the agenda to be debated today; but, no, the Labor Party come in here, full of bluster, to try to suspend all that debate so that they can discuss the internal, inside party political games which go on in this building. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I call the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Ms Plibersek: It's extraordinary— Mr Tudge: What is the point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker? The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is the point of order? Ms Plibersek: If you'd let me finish the sentence you'd find out. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. The minister will continue. Mr TUDGE: Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister has the call. Mr TUDGE: As I was saying, what is on the agenda for today is family and domestic violence— Ms Plibersek: I haven't made my point of order yet. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. Mr TUDGE: As I was outlining, Mr Deputy Speaker, what is on the agenda today is family and domestic violence, higher education and an Aboriginal land rights amendment bill. These are the bills which are scheduled to be debated today, yet the Labor Party come in here and try to suspend this debate in order to have a discussion about internal games in this place. That's what they're about. That is what they are focused on: the internal games which the Australian public are sick of. They're sick of the internal games. They want us to focus on the things that matter to them. Ms Claydon interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Member for Newcastle! Mr TUDGE: There are items on the agenda today which do concern everyday Australians. Family violence is a very important topic and it should be debated today. Higher education support is a critically important topic and it should be debated today. Aboriginal land rights is a very important topic, particularly in the Northern Territory, and it is on the list to be debated today. There are all sorts of other topics which I know the Australian public are far more interested in discussing than the internal games that the Labor Party want to discuss. That's what they're about. Let's be clear about what this suspension motion is. This suspension motion is— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. I call the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Ms Plibersek: Thank you. I have a point of order. The minister is misleading the parliament. He's talking about wanting to speak on these bills and yet the Liberals have only one speaker all day on any of these bills. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: That's not a point of order. The minister will continue. Mr TUDGE: Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. Again, we have another interjection from the Labor Party. They don't want to discuss the important matters on the agenda which Australians want us to discuss. I mentioned three of them. The other topic which is critical and which we are discussing today is national security. One of the big topics in relation to it is encryption law, which we are discussing publicly. They would be welcome to come in and discuss this as well. The Australian people want us to focus on the things that matter to them. They don't want the Canberra bubble games, which is what the Labor Party want to suspend standing orders to discuss. Of course, the Labor Party don't want to discuss national security. They don't want to discuss the economy. Why would they want to discuss the economy when we have delivered a million jobs since coming to government, when we have delivered five per cent unemployment and when we have delivered the lowest proportion of working-age people on welfare in 25 years. That's what we are delivering, and these are real, substantial things to everyday Australians, and that's what we are focused on. It is those things which everyday Australians want us to focus on. It is the economy, and it is creating jobs. Opposition members interjecting— Mr TUDGE: Those opposite constantly interject when we start talking about jobs figures, when we start talking about national security and when we talk about Aboriginal land rights. Again they're all shouting out because all they want to discuss is the Canberra bubble politics. Well, I'm going to continue to focus my efforts on the things which are important to Australians. I want to use my remaining time to discuss, for example, the infrastructure program, which I have some responsibility for rolling out across the country. Ms Claydon interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Newcastle will leave under 94(a). The member for Newcastle then left the chamber. Mr TUDGE: We have $75 billion worth of nation-building infrastructure being rolled out across the country, the greatest commitment that a federal government has ever made. That includes, of course, massive projects which have been on the agenda but never delivered but which we are finally delivering, such as the Western Sydney Airport. That is absolutely going to be a game changer for Western Sydney. This is what this government is focused on: projects like that. We're focused on key projects in Melbourne, my home city, such as the Tullamarine rail—again a project which has not been done for five decades. Ms Plibersek interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is warned. Mr TUDGE: Yet we are putting $5 billion on the table to get this done. We're also doing other key infrastructure projects, particularly a couple more examples in Melbourne. One is the rail link out to Monash University and then out to Rowville. Monash is Australia's largest university campus. Fifty-five thousand students attend that campus, but it doesn't have a rail link to it. We are going to deliver a rail link to that Monash campus, and in doing so we will remove the buses which presently go every couple of minutes between Monash University and the closest railway station, the single busiest bus route in Australia. That's what the Australian public, including the 55,000 Monash University students, want us to focus on: delivering real-life things like a rail link to the Monash University campus, a rail link out to the airport in Melbourne and building the Western Sydney Airport so people in Western Sydney can get closer to an airport, creating enormous capacity and enormous economic opportunities as well. That's the type of thing which they want us to focus on. Of course, soon we'll have an urban congestion fund which we will be announcing to really address those localised hotspots. Often it is really small projects in people's electorates that people are concerned about. For example, in my own electorate, one project is a $6 million bridge, the Henderson Road Bridge. It will make a huge difference to about 10,000 to 20,000 people who presently live in Rowville and Lysterfield, who at the moment have only Stud Road and Napoleon Road to go north and south. This provides an additional alternative. These are the real-life things that we should be concentrating on and that we are delivering. What are the Labor Party doing? They're in here. They're playing their games. They're constantly interjecting as I'm speaking, because they don't like to hear the fact that we are delivering jobs. Mr Husic: End the Tudge fudge! The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Chifley is warned. Mr TUDGE: We are delivering infrastructure. We are delivering national security measures. We're delivering safe borders. We're delivering record amounts spent on health and education. We're delivering record numbers of drugs being put on the PBS. Those are the real-life things that people want us to focus on and that we are delivering. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The time allotted for this debate has expired. The SPEAKER: The question is that the motion moved by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition be agreed to.