Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Then the member for Chisholm and her friends and everyone else got in in 2007 and racked up $400 billion in six years. They are talking about responsibility? Give me a break! Fair dinkum. It is unbelievable. What else have we done in relation to the public interest? There is jobs. When I was elected, I know that jobs was a big issue, and it is something that I continually talk about. I have recently run a job seeker boot camp. We have delivered for small business and helped them with tax cuts for businesses that have under $2 million turnover and also with the instant asset tax write-off.

What is in the public interest? The public interest is about supporting jobs outside of this place and helping business thrive. What is not in the public interest? They talk a lot about accountability. Are those opposite prepared to be accountable for the decisions they made when, in 2007, they said they would be economic conservatives and they said they would not change the Howard government's Pacific Solution? I have spoken about this before. What we saw was 50,000 boats and 1,200 dead at sea—and you talk about accountability. Are you prepared to be accountable for that?

The member for Scullin wants to wind back the TPVs. He got up in this place and so proudly said, 'Yes, we're going to wind back TPVs.' What signal is that going to send, member for Scullin? You want to be accountable. Fair dinkum. Give me a break and get off your high horse! Member for Griffith, the first bloke I ran against when I ran for a state seat was a bloke called Gordon Nuttall. Do you remember him? He was the Labor member for Sandgate. He just did seven years jail.

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