Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

According to a survey by Travel Leaders, Australia is the world's No. 1 travel destination. So you'd think that promoting Australia to the world would be the easiest job going. But there's one chap who was sacked in 2006 by the Howard government as the head of Tourism Australia, in a unanimous decision of the board. Don't feel too sorry for him, since this chap was reportedly fired from his $350,000 job because tourism minister Fran Bailey couldn't stand his ego. He reportedly got a $300,000 payout—doing better than the 16,768 public servants who've lost their jobs since the coalition came to office.

Flushed with success, the same chap ran for preselection for Cook and was eliminated in the first round, garnering just eight out of 152 votes. But the Liberal Party state executive intervened to dump the Lebanese Australian who'd won the ballot and put our chap in the spot instead.

In parliament, he spoke about 'the values of loving kindness', but the same chap objected in 2010 when the Australian government sought to fly Madian El Ibrahimy to attend the funeral of his wife, four-year-old son and eight-month-old daughter, who had perished in the Christmas Island boat tragedy. It was left to Joe Hockey, John Hewson, Malcolm Fraser and Bruce Baird to condemn him. A few months later, the same chap told shadow cabinet that the coalition should exploit community concern over Muslim migration for political gain, only to be slapped down by Philip Ruddock and the member for Curtin, Julie Bishop.

This chap's first idea as Treasurer was to increase the GST. He led the resistance against a banking royal commission, calling it a 'populist whinge' and voting against it 26 times. This chap's energy policy doesn't go any further than waving around a lump of plastic-coated coal in question time. As Treasurer, he presided over the worst wages growth in a generation and the highest debt in our nation's history while pushing $80 billion of corporate tax cuts, including $17 billion for the big banks. This chap put his arm around Malcolm Turnbull one day then took his job the next.

Malcolm Turnbull was a talented political orator who came to parliament after a distinguished business career and took a stand on issues he believed in. In fact, if he'd stuck to his ideals more he might still be Prime Minister. By contrast, in Prime Minister Morrison Australia has its most underwhelming leader since Billy McMahon: a ruthlessly ambitious man who will do anything for power; a speaker who veers from angry rants to cliche-packed homilies; a former party apparatchik driven entirely by politics, without an ounce of original policy thinking.

There's a good reason people dream about Australia. Ours is a magnificent nation. That is why we deserve so much better than a mediocrity who couldn't even keep his job promoting Australian tourism to the world.