STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator BABET (Victoria—United Australia Party Whip) (13:50): People often ask me why Australia never changes—why it doesn't change direction. It doesn't matter who wins an election; it all stays the same. Labor out, Liberals in; Liberals out, Labor in—different politicians, same disastrous results.

Here's why, in my opinion. What we call democracy has become political theatre. Politicians come and go, but the bureaucrats remain.

Donald Trump calls it the deep state. You know what I call it? The Public Service—that's what I call it.

These unelected officials advise governments, shape policy and maintain enormous influence, regardless of who wins the election and whose name is on the big office. Consider eSafety, established under the coalition and continued under Labor, or net zero, embraced by the Liberals and enthusiastically pursued by Labor. Consider the misinformation legislation, the idea of which was drafted under the coalition, then advanced by Labor; it didn't get up, obviously, but it was still there.

Different parties—same agenda. And then there are the career politicians—people who have spent their entire lives as party staffers, climbing factional ladders, following orders and never challenging the machine. Eventually they're rewarded with preselection.

And we're supposed to believe that these professional followers will suddenly become independent leaders. Fat chance, I reckon! Australia needs parliamentarians who've actually lived in the real world—people who have run businesses, raised families, paid mortgages and met payrolls; people with a staunch point of view, independence and enough backbone to tell bureaucrats no.

Elected reps, not bureaucrats, are supposed to decide the direction of the nation. Changing Australia requires more than swapping Labor for Liberal or Liberal for Labor—and back and forth it goes. We must restore the Public Service to its proper role and elect politicians prepared to lead rather than obey.

Australians are waking up, and that's why the political landscape is fracturing. But, for those of us determined to rescue Australia from decades of decline, these are exciting times. One nation or no nation.