Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I got into politics in 2007 after going to a packed-out community forum at Caboolture State School hall. We were there to hear from candidates, including Labor's candidate at the time, Jon Sullivan, and we were there to hear from the local LNP member for Longman at the time, Mal Brough. Well, guess what? Mal didn't show up. It felt like there was us the community and then there was them, the Liberals. That's what it felt like. His conduct as an MP showed exactly the same thinking—he just did whatever he wanted, like the rules didn't apply to him, just like we've been seeing this past week with another batch of Liberals who just think there's a different set of rules for them.

Back to the time of Brough. Things were a bit different. Eventually Mal stood down after Prime Minister Turnbull acknowledged it was just the right thing to do. Well, let's think about our new Prime Minister. He condones this entitled, above-the-law behaviour. Actually, what he does is he doubles down on it. If this Prime Minister can't see just how much this whole Helloworld scandal stinks, if he can't see that the people in my community have to work hard to pay for their travel and don't just get it handed to them, then this government, this Prime Minister, is more out of touch than ever.