Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would hope that each and every member of this place would always put our country ahead of our party interests, to put the safety and security of the Australian people, who we are all privileged to represent in this great place, ahead of our own partisan alliances. And, at a time of global challenges and instability in our region and beyond, Labor has worked, each and every day, to put our national interest first, because unity is what this nation needs right now.

I can say without hesitation the Australian Labor Party has worked with this government to constructively do the right thing and keep the Australian people safe and secure. We have worked in the national interest in all forums, in this place and others and in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. We have done it, because we understand that working together is in the national interests. But this government is terrified that the Australian people have finally started to work them out. They see an incompetent government with no vision or agenda for our country.

We are witnessing the Morrison government, scared of what the Australian people might decide, now putting their own partisan interests before the national interest. When John Curtin was facing World War II, he sought to unify. He said:

Australians must be perpetually on guard …

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All Australia is the stake in this war. All Australia must stand together to hold that stake.

A couple of bad polls is not an excuse to put your party alliances before the interests of this great country. (Time expired)

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