Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I take the opportunity to thank you and to acknowledge you for your elevation to the high office of Speaker of the House. I had the great fortune of serving with you in the previous parliament, and I know you to be fair, equitable, a man of enormous integrity and someone who serves, at the core of your being, the values of this parliament. I wish you the best in all your endeavours for the deliberations that lie in front of you in the next parliament. I think I win the award for the biggest praise of you!

I congratulate Labor on their remarkable victory. I was sitting in the House today, and hearing the first speeches of the new parliamentarians allows you to ponder about your own maiden speech. There were times, in the time I've spent here, where our side of politics commanded similar numbers in the parliament, but, can I say, it's the first time I have seen, from the opposition benches, such diminished numbers on our side. The Australian public have sent the coalition, our Liberal and National parties, a very clear message that they want us to do better. They want us to have a more articulated policy position. They want us to articulate that message to them in a clear and precise way that they can understand.

Whilst we are in diminished numbers, can I share with the House that, now more than ever, the job of the opposition is to hold a government of this magnitude to account and to put a mirror up to the language they bring into this House. I do that from that perspective. I acknowledge—to you, Mr Speaker—that the Prime Minister, in this House, referred to the coalition in language that said we keep on saying no to everything. I was in the previous parliament, I was on the benches, and I don't actually remember us saying no to too much at all. I asked the Parliamentary Library to do some research, and they came back to me and they said that during the last parliament 375 bills came through—and the member for Gellibrand was here when I made an address earlier on today in the MPI; thank you, Member for Gellibrand. We didn't say no to everything, but if you listen to the Prime Minister he would have the Australian public and every new member giving their maiden speeches believe that we said no to everything. There are few people in this world that you can believe, but, can I tell you, you can believe the Parliamentary Library when they say that 375 bills came before this House. I ask the question: how many bills do you think we said no to? You would think, 'Well, clearly, all of them', if you listen to the rhetoric and the mendacious claims made by those on the other side. It wasn't 200. It wasn't 100. It was fewer than 15 per cent of pieces of legislation that came through that we supported. For 85 per cent of the bills that came through this place, we were in lock-step with the government. So, when the new members get their speaking points, my point would be: don't trust everything that this Prime Minister says. Don't trust them when they say that they're meeting their emissions targets, because they are not. Don't trust them when they're saying that they're giving $275 relief to energy bills, because they're not. Those are going up 32 per cent. Don't believe them when they tell you that they're meeting their housing targets. They're not. Our job as an effective opposition is to hold up a mirror to the failings of this government, and believe me: with every breath I have, I will do it every day.

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