Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

My colleague the Minister for Health points out the irony of that remark, indicating that you have not said too many charitable things about the member for Hotham in the past. Can I say too before the Leader of the Opposition gets too carried away with eulogising former leaders that he might want to make an assessment about what some of the former leaders of his political party say about him. Maybe the member for Wentworth might be able to elaborate for us on that very topic.

The government has been continuing to pursue its agenda and continuing to resist the opposition's plans for cutbacks for Australian families which would undermine their opportunity to share in the life of our nation and hold them outside the benefits of prosperity and growth. This has been, and always will be, the fundamental divide between our political parties: us committed to jobs, you having opposed jobs; us committed to fairness and ensuring that the benefit of a strong economy flows to all, you opposing each and every day those benefits and saying that, if you are ever elected, they will be very directly ripped away. This is the political debate in our country. This is what drives the government today and will drive us in the days beyond today.

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