Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

He is a Liberal; that is right, because they cannot get the National Party to come in and defend themselves. There is one opportunity left in this sitting period for at least a Liberal member to come in here and defend the National Party. But I have not heard one defence yet—I have not heard one argument yet—from any of them about protecting people in the bush. They will talk about protecting themselves. They will talk about protecting a whole range of things. But they will not talk about protecting people in the bush. I would have loved to have sat here in the chamber and heard the Deputy Prime Minister talk about what he is going to do for people in the bush, talk about the future of telecommunications and talk about what the important issues are—but you will not hear those.

I want to draw a couple of analogies, because there are a couple of clear ones, between the state of the National Party and the Liberal Party in Queensland and the state of our trade performance and our overall performance. Both clearly come under the control of the government and the Prime Minister. He actually controls what the National Party do. Not only does he control his own party; he controls what the National Party do. He will not put up with—not for one minute, not for one second—or entertain the thought that the Queensland Nationals or Liberals could actually determine their own futures. No, he will not have that, because the Prime Minister controls the levers of power. He will be telling them what to do, just as he tells them what to do on the big issues, just as he told them what to do on Telstra. They pretended for a little while there that they were all so concerned about Telstra. They were going to cut some special deals, and they were going to do all these things. But, if you boil all that away, what do you have left in the pot? Just a whole heap of bones. There is not much left, nothing for country people and nothing on the big issues. So, if you want to draw any analogies about our trade performance and how poorly we are doing, just turn to the Prime Minister and have a look at how he is running this government. Have a look at how he is riding roughshod over the National Party.

Also, while the Prime Minister is telling them what to do, he does not exactly step in, help them out and give them a bit of a hand up. They need a leg up, because these guys are suffering. Anybody who comes from Queensland or who reads the national media will understand that these guys are in a whole heap of pain, a whole heap of hurt, because they really do not know where they are going. They are like a bunch of old Brown’s cows, milling around the bottom paddock. The farmer has been away for years. They are just feeding on whatever is left. If a drought comes along, they are in a lot of trouble. If you have seen Queensland lately, you know what I am talking about.

So all that you see in here—the feigned indignation, the attacks on us and everything else that you see and hear in here—is not about the future of the country. It is not about the future of where we are going. It is not about the future of the bush. It is not about the future of Telstra. All the frenetic activity you see is about saving their own hides. It is about saving their own skins. But the reality is that it is not going to matter what they do; they are already dead. I think the point that the member for Griffith led on is that they are already dead. They are the proverbial dead parrot: ‘He’s not dead; he’s just having a rest.’ It is a long rest. It is going to be a long sleep. They are going to fall off the perch at any moment. They are dangling upside down. But we all know that they are already dead.

Funnily enough, they do not know they are dead, but their constituents do. Their constituents already know they are dead, and they will not be voting for dead parties or dead members. Doug Anthony can spell it out and say: ‘Look, guys, I don’t want to make too much of an issue, but I think you actually might have a point here in Queensland. You guys are dead; you’re finished. Do something now, get on with the job; otherwise you’re all gone.’ The national president of the National Party had to be sacked yesterday because he actually told it how it was. That is what happens to you in the National Party if you speak out.

But my favourite comment of all—and I have to hand this one to the member for Brisbane—was from the member for Brisbane. He said, ‘Who would have ever thought that Julian McGauran would have been ahead of the game?’ Poor old Julian. No-one in their wildest dreams could have ever thought that—

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