Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I accept your opprobrium. I mean the Prime Minister of Australia. I have absolute and utter respect for that office. That was the office that was held by Curtin, who defended our nation against imminent demise. That was the office of Chifley. That was the office that was held by some of our greatest people. Without them, we would not be here today. That is why it is an absolute disgrace that the dignity of that office and the legacy of Curtin, Chifley, Fisher, Deakin, 'Black Jack' McEwen, Hawke, Howard and Menzies—like them or loathe them, everybody respected them because they represented the will of the Australian people—are being sullied and dragged through the mud. The government are so ambivalent about the dignity of that office that they said, straight down the barrel of the camera on the banks of the Brisbane River, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' What an utter fabrication. What an utterly misleading statement. I will tell you what there will be. There will be no government under the carbon tax you lead because it is a fabrication.

I know I am getting to you. You know deep down, like the errant schoolchild who has come home after a big night out with their friends, that now mummy and daddy voter are waiting for you and they are not happy campers. Tonight you are spinning them this yarn and popping the bubbly. And mummy and daddy voter are not happy with you. They are tearing you to pieces tonight on talkback radio. They are tearing you to pieces through the western suburbs. They are tearing you to pieces across this nation because they could not believe you would do this to them.

I believe in Simon Crean. I do. I believe in Simon Crean!