Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

So we had the Prime Minister of this day assassinate the previous Prime Minister, the member for Griffith, 12 months ago and usurp his position, announcing at the time that she would ask the Governor-General permission to hold an election so that she could in fact have a mandate in her own name in order to govern. We went to that election and there was no outcome. The Prime Minister was not elected. The opposition won the majority of primary votes. We saw that there was then a frenzied attempt to stitch up a deal, just as there had been a deal struck up 12 months ago. This time we had the performance of the various Independents, who were strutting their stuff in their moment of grandeur. They finally agreed that they would back up the Prime Minister for the purposes of allowing the budget to pass and that they would not support a no confidence motion.

That does not make the government legitimate. It does not make the Prime Minister legitimate. It means that she is floundering every day and every week, having to consult with the Independents about what it is that they want, to see how she can serve their needs, to see how they can be accommodated. In the meantime, ordinary members of the Labor Party are left to flounder because their needs come second to appeasing the demands of the Independents. It does not matter what the issue is. It does not matter whether it is suddenly having to deal with the difficult issue of the live export of cattle, where the original decision that was taken by the minister was the correct one. Because she was once again leant on by an Independent who wanted something, the whole of the policy was overturned and a complete ban was put in place. There was no consideration at all—none—for those people whose livelihoods were at stake. There was no consideration about their families, about their aspirations. It was simply: 'How can I appease one of the Independents so that I can cling to power?' That is all she cares about—clinging to power.

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