Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It will be no surprise to you, Mr Speaker, or to the rest of the House, that I raise the issue of the rolling joke in Queensland: the coalition. It is important to all Queenslanders and the rest of the country to know what is going on. This week we heard the news that the Queensland branches of the Liberal Party and the National Party are planning to merge. They are doing that because they have run out of any other ideas on policy or anything else they are doing. They are talking about becoming the New Liberals or the Old Nationals. But, regardless of what they are going to call themselves, no merger will ever hide the fact that, if you put the same old rubbish in, you get the same old rubbish out from the same old tired faces. As the saying goes: you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. You can serve mutton anyway you like, but it is never going to taste like lamb—that is the reality.

If these grand wedding plans do go ahead, it will definitely be the end of the National Party in Queensland and it will be the beginning of the end of the National Party federally in Canberra. That is what scares them. It scares the federal Nats because they know that this is the beginning of the end for them. They are not worried about Australia or Queensland; they are worried about themselves—that is the real point.

That goes to my more important point, which is that the only true friend that the bush has is the Labor Party. You need only look at Queensland to see that. On the big issues—on road and rail infrastructure—it is the Labor Party that stands up for the people of Queensland. If you look at water infrastructure, it is the Labor Party. Look at telecommunications. You have only to take the sale of the century: Telstra. Who has rolled over on Telstra, the one big issue for the National Party in this country? If there were a defining issue for the National Party, it would be that they stood up for their constituents on Telstra. It is painful for them, but they rolled over. They are more interested in pleasing their Liberal Party masters than they are in looking after their own constituents.

But the truth is that Queenslanders are not silly. They are a bright lot. The truth is that they have long since abandoned the National Party. What this merger is all about is the Queensland Nationals realising that they are a party of the past—and the federal Nationals are not far behind them either. They need to merge not for the benefit of the country, not for the economy, not for their constituents but for themselves, to save their own skins. The merger in Queensland is about the National Party surviving. It is not about them doing their jobs; it is about them keeping their jobs. That is what they are in it for.

On the other hand, interestingly, the Nationals in Canberra are completely opposed to any merger, because it will reduce their power base. It will reduce the importance they have here in Canberra. So what do the Nationals in Canberra want to do? They do not want a merger, because they are interested only in themselves. They want to save their skins; they want to save their jobs. Does anyone actually believe that, if the merger trend continued from Queensland and flowed down to Canberra, Mark Vaile would still be the Deputy Prime Minister if he had to compete with the rest of the Liberal Party? That might be a question we could ask some Liberal backbenchers or Liberal ministers.

If this merger actually does happen, let us be frank: it will not be a merger anyway. It is simply a takeover of the National Party by the Liberals. Regional and rural Queenslanders have been fundamentally betrayed by this mob. That is why they do not vote for them. I also heard this week that they still are not sure what they should call this new so-called party of theirs. You do not have to look very far. Just like they treated their own constituents with Telstra, they could call themselves the ‘sell-out party’. It would be true to form. You sold out on your own constituents. You sold out on the one big issue that actually could have defined you. The National Party is arrogant and is out of touch with rural and regional Australia. For too long the Nationals have put the Liberals first and their constituents last. Every time rural and regional Australians look for representation, what do they see their National Party MPs doing? Rolling over for the Liberals.

Who could forget the sale of the century on Telstra? I will tell you who will not forget, and that is your constituents out in the bush. The National Party should be standing up for the bush and regional constituents, not themselves. This is the Queensland Nationals having given up on themselves and given up on their constituencies. The only thing they have ever agreed on in Queensland is merging, but that is just a complete sell-out. They are desperate not to make a change but to save their own hides and skins. But the reality is that they do not have the guts to carry it through, and it will not make any difference what they want to do as they will never get away with it. (Time expired).