QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator O'NEILL (New South Wales) (15:15): One of the questions that was asked this afternoon in question time here in the place where we're supposed to be focusing on the Australian people and what's really happening for the Australian people was a question about the economy. I just want to take note of an interjection that was made. I don't know if it was recorded by Hansard or not.

As Senator Wong stood to make her contribution with regard to the fact that it is a difficult economic environment and that Australians are under some pressure, the comment from Senator McKenzie across the chamber was, 'Oh, empathy—tick!' as if she's got some sort of a checklist about the performative nature of what goes on here, because that is the only currency that that senator understands.

I won't tarnish all of the senators in this place with that, but the behaviour we see day in and day out from Senator McKenzie was absolutely on display in an insulting way to every single Australian who is doing it tough, with smart-alecry, as if what we do doesn't matter. The reality is this government is hearing the challenges that face Australians. We do know that there have been difficult times, and we delivered tax reform that is about delivering tax cuts for workers, giving a fair go to first home buyers and better aligning the treatment of work with income earned in other ways.

So far, rather than just a 'tick for empathy', we deserve an awful lot more acknowledgement for the changes that have actually happened in a positive way for Australians in their lives. It doesn't mean that everything's been fixed; that would be a foolish statement to make. But the fact is, as we stand here and we speak to this matter of the economy and the Australian people, this government has reduced the tax burden on 13 million Australians.

If we're doing it tough today, we would have been doing it a lot tougher if those opposite had got their way, because they have resisted every single reform. That is the party over there, asking the questions about the economy, who wanted to go to the last election with a higher-tax agenda. That would not have been good for Australians.

Labor policy understands how tough it is to get into a house, and that's why we're supporting 75,000 more Australians to get into the housing market. And all you hear from the other side is the whingeing, the moaning, the smart-alecry and the cynicism. I know cynicism is very fashionable.

I know it gets eyeballs. I know it sells papers. I know it makes you look like you're smart and clever.

But do you know what? Cynicism, in my life—I've never seen it build a single thing. I've never seen smart-alecry deliver one good thing for someone in need—never.

Cynicism is a crime. Cynicism builds nothing and destroys everything, including hope and including the unity that this country needs. The knives being thrown at unity in this parliament through the types of questions that are asked and in the language that is performed, not just on the back benches but on the front benches, are pitting one Australian against another.

The standard we see here day in and day out is a disgrace and inflicts further pain. It inflicts further pain on ordinary Australians who need their government to stand up and help them with practical things like those this government is delivering—tax cuts, higher wages, Medicare. (Time expired)