The sight of our Prime Minister strutting the stage in a rage, continually brushing flies from his face calling the Opposition Leader, among other things, a “parasite” is more in tune with the ravings of a weak minded parrot than parliamentary rules of debate.

Mr Cumberland missed the point – the whole episode was a farce, a smokescreen to deflect attention from the government’s intention to cut $4.6 billion from welfare and transfer the funds towards the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Coalition’s childcare changes.

No need for applause here; the Turnbull government is not a government of the people. The Turnbull government is squarely behind big business. Hence its current touting for $50 billion cuts in company tax.

At the conclusion of the current sitting of federal parliament, all parliamentarians should be made to stay in Canberra to address the nation’s energy security crisis.

The Prime Minister should direct they combine their collective minds and formulate as a matter of urgency policies that will ensure energy security. Ban all overseas travel and suspend their  passports until they have developed a practical and sustainable energy policy.

While ever our nation continues to ignore what is happening in South Australia and possibly Victoria the ramifications would be too severe to contemplate.

Industry CEOs are leading the calls for immediate action to address the issue of electricity security and the lack thereof. 

This issue will be the sleeper come election time and the failure by governments and oppositions, state and federal, to participate in the problem solving exercise may have dire consequences for their electoral chances.

Jobs and growth, you say PM, well this will never happen without energy security, so get your skates on, forget the politics and address the nation’s needs.

So here we are again, with politicians bouncing the issue of better support for people with a disability around the floor of Parliament House like the proverbial football. Unfortunately all that’s being achieved is a massive own-goal.

At what point did it seem like a good idea to pit welfare and families against the National Disability Insurance Scheme? It’s not a logical argument when the Productivity Commission found that the NDIS would be more cost effective than the status quo.

So, having dispensed with the notion that there was a cheaper alternative, the only thing that can be called into question is that of “need”. Do our politicians believe that people with a disability need and deserve more and better than they’ve historically received, or don’t they?

People across this country have suffered immeasurably as a result of a devastatingly underfunded disability sector. And now, implicitly, they’re being asked to apologise for getting what they need, to the detriment of their fellow citizens.

I can only imagine what it must feel like for someone who has been waiting desperately for support, as they watch this debacle play out in parliament and across media. From finally being told that you had a right to a fulfilling life – to having your desperation publicly measured against that of some of the poorest members of our community.

There was never any question that the introduction of the NDIS would be a steep learning curve, and an expensive one, but giving with one hand while taking away with the other is cruel.

Because ultimately, in social and moral terms, we are all the poorer for this debate.