“So we have a 25-point battle plan, and as one of my colleagues here pointed out.23 points of Mr Turnbull’s 25-point battle plan are Mr Abbott’s 23-point battle plan”, he said.
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“He has lacked the courage to do what he knows is right and he has lacked the courage as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party to deliver marriage equality in the quickest form possible, which is to enable a free vote in the Parliament”.
Prior to the July federal election, Labor leader Bill Shorten promised to introduce legislation within 100 days after the election, in a bid to legalise same-sex marriage.
Australia’s Parliament has met for the first time since the conservative government narrowly won an election nearly two months ago and as an opinion poll shows Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity falling.
A 25-point plan to fix the budget, outlined by Mr Turnbull, was panned by the Opposition as little more than a rehash of his predecessor Tony Abbott’s plan.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce played down the poll before MPs took part in the traditional church service before the opening of Parliament.
“You will drive yourself insane if you start worrying about polls at the start of the political term”, he told the Nine Network.
“Make sure that we, number one. make sure that you do the hard work so that in 20 years’ time someone can go to a public hospital and expect that it is going to be free”.
“We are better off waiting than hurting people”.
Mr Joyce was it was always tough when a government returns and there are “big jobs to do”.
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong accused Mr Turnbull of lacking the courage to dump the policy. Personally I have no doubt the plebiscite will be carried, and the same sex marriage legislation will sail through the parliament. “We will cross the bridge of what he intends to do when he presents that legislation”, Shorten said. “He’s failed to put his stamp on the leadership, he’s still looking flat and if things don’t turn around it’s unlikely he will lead the government to the next election”. “I’m very confident that we’ll find the good sense, the patriotism, the commitment to securing Australia’s future in this parliament”.
“How long are we prepared as a nation, as a generation, to load more and more debt onto the shoulders of our children and grandchildren?” the Prime Minister asked.
Some Coalition backbenchers are pressing the government to set up a tribunal to give people a cheap and accessible way to get redress when they have been victims of bad behaviour by banks.
Mr Burke has told the ABC Labor is thankful it had not already made a public statement on its view before seeing it because, he says, the Government has lied about what is in it.
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The story Senior ministers defend Malcolm Turnbull’s government over poor polling results first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.
