The last six weeks in Canberra have been more than disappointing and, many times I have personally found them quite shocking.

When I was first elected, I sought the support of the people of Moreton so that I could go to Canberra to do noble things, on your behalf. My job is to look out for you, so I am very sorry that the last few weeks of horrible announcements coming out Coalition offices have been a demoralising low point in our democracy.

The revelations about the disgusting behaviour of several coalition staffers; an allegation of rape in a Minister’s office; an allegation of sexual assault by the Attorney General; and an LNP backbencher from Queensland harassing women online – have combined to lessen the standing of our parliament in the eyes of ordinary Australians.

If we want to be a country where women are safe at work, at home, on the street, then we have to take these complaints seriously. This is especially important when these horrible matters take place right in the heart of our democracy.

The Prime Minister needs to stop trying to politically manage the situation. It’s been five long weeks since the allegations that started with Brittany Higgins’ terrible story came to light. And since that time, there has been little sign of leadership from Mr Morrison. He has to start to deal with the real problem that women, not only in Parliament House, but across Australia, experience sexual harassment in the workplace. Every Australian workplace must be safe for every Australian worker. Nobody should be subjected to sexual harassment in our workplaces.

Scott Morrison could show some leadership, starting with implementing the full 55 recommendations in Kate Jenkins Respect@Work Report and reintroducing the Women’s Budget Statement.

Secret figures have revealed in 2013 the Liberal-National Government knew Labor’s Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) plan could be deployed significantly cheaper, contradicting their ridiculous and deceptive public statements. As exposed in a recent report:

“Savings worth $850 to $1150 were estimated to be achievable for each existing home attached with fibre under the radically redesigned plan. These savings included the use of more cost-efficient network architecture and materials worth $300 to $450 per home or business, a further $50 to $100 from cost-efficient construction techniques and $500 to $600 from increased labour productivity.

However, sources with knowledge of the NBN Co’s business operations say cost efficiency improvements were already happening in 2013 and would have been introduced without a radical redesign.

If the lowest level of estimated savings was applied to homes in the existing full fibre rollout at the time, peak funding could have been reduced from $73 billion to about $60 billion. Interest rates associated with the debt were estimated at a relatively high 6.9 per cent by 2024. A further $5 billion to $6 billion in savings may then have been achievable due to lower debt overall and with interest rates below 4 per cent.”

These figures indicate the cost of Labor’s original Fibre to the Premises rollout would be between $15 billion to $19 billion cheaper than the Liberals have claimed.

Furthermore, today’s report indicates the cost per households for FTTP was between $2,950 and $3,250 — squarely in the range experts always said it would be.

For nearly a decade, the Liberals have claimed Labor’s original fibre rollout would have cost $72 billion. However, this recent report shows they were making these claims in the full knowledge this figure was a hoax.

The Government’s own secret figures show a full-fibre rollout to 93 per cent of Australians could have been delivered for nearly $53 billion.

The cost of the Liberals’ copper-dominated mess is now forecast at $57 billion, and it will have higher operating and capital costs for decades to come.

By engaging in this grand deception, the Liberals have put politics above people and robbed Australians of a first-rate fibre NBN.

Worse still, they have deployed a dud copper NBN that is nearly $30 billion over budget, delivers slower speeds and is less reliable.