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

If I may, Madam Speaker, on indulgence, respond to the statement of the Prime Minister. First all, I congratulate the Prime Minister on returning to the high office which he formally occupied and which he has been dreaming of returning to for three long years and three long days. I also commiserate with the former Prime Minister on what happened to her last night. As the Prime Minister has just indicated, politics is a tough business, but sometimes it is far more brutal than it needs to be. Sometimes it is far less fair than it should be. The former Prime Minister should have been dealt with by the Australian people at an election and not by the faceless men in the caucus last night. If the former Prime Minister's achievements are as substantial as her replacement has just indicated he believes, why was she dragged down last night? That is the explanation that the Prime Minister owes us. He owes it to the Australian people—

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