Ms GILLARD (Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion) (4:52 PM) —In concluding this procedural debate I make a very simple point: we are at the logical end point from last Wednesday when the Leader of the Opposition rose to his feet in this parliament and said that the Liberal Party in both the House of Representatives and the Senate would vote against the government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan.

One thing that the Liberal Party appears not to be prepared to understand is that political decisions come with responsibility. When your leader made that announcement on your behalf you were saying that you wanted this plan to fail. You have achieved what you wanted and you now must take the political responsibility for that. And the political responsibility is that a stimulus package the nation needs is being denied to it. You have a few hours to change your mind, and what you ought to do in those hours is ring some people in your electorates. You should ring a school principal—

Mr Tuckey —I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Deputy Prime Minister is referring to ‘you’ as being the person that killed off this legislation—

The SPEAKER —The member will resume his seat. The Deputy Prime Minister will direct her remarks through the chair.

Ms GILLARD —Before voting later this evening each member of the Liberal Party should consult some people in their electorate. They should ask them whether or not they believe the Liberal Party should vote in favour of jobs in these difficult days. They should ask them whether they think the Liberal Party should vote in favour of nation building in these difficult days. They should ring a business person and ask them what they think about the contemporary economic situation and the need for fiscal stimulus and, having got that feedback from the outside world, later tonight they should come into this parliament and do what they ought to have done last week and vote for these bills. Do not seek to evade the political responsibility of what your leader committed you to. You are at the logical end point of that. If you want to deny the nation this stimulus package, take the political responsibility for it. But I suggest to every member of the opposition that they consult someone in their electorate and they will get a very different view.

The SPEAKER —Order! The time allotted for the debate under standing order 1 has expired. I now put the question that the motion moved by the Leader of the House to suspend standing order 31 and standing order 33 be agreed to.