David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We should spend our time in this chamber on things that matter to the Australian people, and we should conduct ourselves in these debates in a way befitting the privilege of serving in this place. Debates should be initiated about policies that people care about. No personal attack ever created a job. No personal attack ever put food on the table or helped someone get a better education. No personal attack ever started a business or helped a struggling town to get back on its feet. No personal attack ever helped an entrepreneur to come up with her first idea. Most of all, no personal attack ever encouraged our kids to dream bigger. Personal attacks are dispiriting for the Australian people, because they remind them of everything they dislike about Canberra.

This motion about Australia's political system talks about the public interest, and that is why we are here—to pursue the public interest and to do the work of the public. The government, in pursuing the public interest, is pursuing the vision we believe is best for the nation and being honest about the challenges we face. That is what this government is doing, and that is what those opposite miserably failed to do when they were in government. We are respecting the good sense and wisdom of the Australian people. We are thinking not just about today or tomorrow but about 10, 20 and 30 years from now. The question is: how do we best harness the incredible energy, creativity and spirit of the Australian people in order to make this era our greatest yet?

The Prime Minister is treating the Australian community like grown-ups, unlike the opposition. As much as those opposite would like us to play silly games of ruling things in and out, we are not going to do that. Our goal is to set Australia up to drive the next wave of jobs and growth. That means a jobs-friendly tax system and competition polices that increase national productivity. It is a big agenda and a big conversation, and we are not going to cut it short. We are not going to circumvent a national conversation just so those opposite feel a little better. They are going to worship at the altar of politics as usual, and we are going to get things done. They are going to talk to ever-smaller circles of people about ever-smaller topics. We are going to talk with the whole nation about the biggest issues we face. They are going to seek to narrow the debate to small places where they feel most comfortable. We are going to enlarge the debate. Soon we will announce an innovation package that will have wide-ranging impacts across our economy. It will be ambitious and bold. It has been produced not through negative attacks but through creative thinking, broad consultation and old-fashioned hard work. It is the definition of the people's business.

Personal attacks will not help us deal with the change that is happening in the global economy at an ever-increasing rate. There is no point saying that economic change is easy; it is not. And, while change can be hard, it also represents an immense opportunity as new markets open up every day. To capture those opportunities, we need to have an honest, grown-up conversation, and in order to have a grown-up conversation you need to have a government that is behaving like grown-ups. The Australian people are well aware that the challenges that we face as a nation are significant and the opportunities are even bigger. If the economy changes, we are incredibly well positioned to benefit from that. But if we want to benefit from the opportunities of the future, we need to focus our attention, our energy and our debates in this place and elsewhere on the issues that matter the most to the Australian people. Those issues revolve around the economic future of our nation. If you want to build international trade, which we do, you need a government that is closing deals with the biggest countries in the world, not an opposition that is pandering to the worst instincts of its union base.

Australia is better than personal attacks; the opposition, sadly, is not. Today's debate is a good example of the very clear difference between the government and its alternative. The future of Australia is immense. The opportunities are enormous. What we need to do on all sides of this place is to focus our intellect, our energy and our ideas on positive plans that benefit the next generations of Australians.

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