Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

Well, let's talk about energy prices going up. The last time I checked there'd been a 0.4 per cent increase. They keep bandying around a 20 per cent increase. It was a 0.4 per cent increase. In fact, wholesale prices have halved, and that will start to flow on, as we committed to.

To higher income support payments—a great cost-of-living measure—they said no. The biggest boost to rent assistance in 30 years: they said no. Expanding paid parental leave: they opposed that. Making child care cheaper: they opposed that. Free TAFE, with 300,000 people getting the benefit—they opposed it. We've strengthened Medicare and rolled out cheaper medicines for Australians—something the coalition voted against.

So, we have the member for Dickson saying one thing—he's supposed to be the champion of the workers—but doing something completely different when it comes to the cost of living. It reminds me of Elton John. Now, I'm not comparing the Leader of the Opposition to Elton John in terms of being incredibly talented and wearing big glasses or anything like that. But it does remind me—and because it's Valentine's Day I thought I'd touch on this, change the tone a bit and talk about that song by Elton John, which many of us saw in Rocketman: 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart'. There was that duet he did with Kiki Dee in 1976, and it was No. 1 around the world, back when I was in grade 6. 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' has incredible harmonies—and harmony obviously isn't something I'd associate the member for Dickson with.

But this is what Elton John and Kiki Dee sing. They say:

Right from the start

I gave you my heart

Oh, I gave you my heart

Don't go breaking my heart

I won't go breaking your heart

We know that when Elton John said that to Kiki Dee he didn't actually mean it, did he? They were beautiful words, but he didn't mean, 'You will never break my heart, Kiki Dee,' and Kiki Dee knew that, because they were just singing a duet together; they're professional singers. In fact, 40 years ago today Elton John married Renate, on 14 February 1984 at St Mark's Church at Darling Point in Sydney. As Elton John later said of Renate: 'She was the classiest woman I've ever met, but it wasn't meant to be. I was living a lie.' And the Leader of the Opposition gets to go to the people of Australia and ask, 'Do you want to be Kiki Dee, or do you want to be Renate?' They get to make a choice.

The member for Dickson can't sing and he can't play the piano, but we do know that we can't believe his words. So my advice to the people of Australia is, when it comes to the member for Dickson, be a lot more like Kiki Dee, not Renate, because that's not going to work out. It's going to end up being a sham, and you'll end up in a marriage you don't want to be in. Okay? And there'll be secrecy clauses and all that sort of thing. My advice to the people of Australia is to look for someone you can sing with in harmony—and that's the Leader of the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese.

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