Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State (House)) Share this | Hansard source

In the member for Deakin's contribution just now, he managed to do two things which, until then, I had thought would be impossible. First of all, he made the member for Bradfield sound like Martin Luther King and, secondly, he made that Liberal Party punch-up at charcoal chicken seem enlightened in comparison to his contribution. In his defence, the Prime Minister is no better. We had a question time where the Prime Minister did some extraordinary things which I suspect he might be seeing in some campaign videos between now and the next election. But he also did something else: he quoted one of the Labor greats; he quoted Paul Keating in this parliament.

A lot of people on this side of the House know and admire Paul Keating. The member for Lilley does; the member for McMahon knows him well. Paul Keating has been right about a lot of things in his political life, but he's been especially right about the Prime Minister. He was the one who described the Prime Minister as a fizzer, and he got that spot-on. The other thing he got right, which we don't talk about enough in this place, is that the current Prime Minister went grovelling to Paul Keating, with Richo in tow, and begged him for a Senate seat, saying, 'Please give me a Senate seat.' So devoid of principles was the current Prime Minister that he was prepared to show up here in any party. Paul Keating was right to say, 'No, off you trot!' He was especially right to predict that Malcolm Turnbull would bob up somewhere in the party with the lowest standards. That's what we've seen.

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