Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It is no secret that I am not the greatest admirer of the Australian Labor Party, but I pity a once great party that has been brought low by such unworthy people. There was a party that once worked, in the immortal words of Ben Chifley, 'for the betterment of mankind'. What has it been reduced to? It has been reduced to a party that is simply a vehicle for the ego and the ambition of this unworthy Prime Minister.

I say to the Australian people that we are so much better than this. I say to the Australian people that we can have better government. I say to the Australian people that better days are coming, because we are a great country being let down by a seriously bad government. Nothing at all is going to change as a result of today's vote. We will still have the carbon tax, which will clobber the jobs and the standard of living of every Australian family. We will still have the appalling chaos on our borders created entirely by the decisions of this government and maintained by the extraordinary stubbornness of this Prime Minister, who does not have the decency or the humility to admit that there are policies that worked. And we will still have a Prime Minister who is far more focused on her job than she is on protecting the jobs of Australian people. Everything this Prime Minister said today—and this is why standing orders must be suspended—is about protecting her job. Everything that this Prime Minister has said or done in this House betrays the fact that this Prime Minister fundamentally lacks the magnanimity necessary to hold the great office of Prime Minister.

There is a better way, but only the coalition can deliver to this country the stable government that it deserves. Only the coalition can give this country the hope, reward and opportunity that the Australian people need and deserve. Only the coalition can give us a strong economy because we will get government spending down and productivity up. If you get government spending down you take the pressure off interest rates and you allow taxes to be responsibly reduced. We will get productivity up because we are not run by faceless men—the same faceless men who dictate the policy of this government when it comes to workplace relations.

Mr Byrne interjecting—

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