House debates Constituency Statements

Morrison Government

Tuesday, 14 February 2023 House of Representatives

Patrick Gorman

Patrick Gorman Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister

4:15 pm

Labor is red; the Liberals are blue; on this Valentine's Day I have a poem for you:

In just 12 months so much is new

Let's have a look at what we've all been through;

Back then our ex-PM did not hold a hose

Said t'was not a race—did he lie? Macron knows;

We went to an election and the choice was easy

Australia did choose Prime Minister Albanese;

His plan for a better future is what the country had needed

A positive vision for Australia as PM Morrison receded;

Onto these benches were moved, and that's when it all came out

All the secrets they'd been hiding, all the mistruths they had spout;

Weeks before the poll, in a cunning secret of plot

The member for Hume gave nondisclosure a shot

No, it wasn't doctored travel receipts—it was much worse

It was Minister Taylor's secret hit to the purse;

A 20 per cent jump in the price of our power

Kept hidden during the campaign, released in the final hour;

Paul Fletcher

Paul Fletcher Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. That's in clear breach of the standing orders, casting inferences against another member, and he shouldn't be doing it.

Lisa Chesters

Lisa Chesters Bendigo, Australian Labor Party

The assistant minister may continue.

Patrick Gorman

Patrick Gorman Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister

Thank you:

But that wasn't all, and the truth did flow

Because there was much, much more Australia did not know;

Prime Minister Morrison was not busy enough

So he started coveting his colleagues' stuff;

With Josh as his Treasurer and Greg Hunt in health

Our ex-PM decided to do those jobs in stealth;

Without telling the public, he played his constitutional tricks

Deciding he was so good at his job he would take on another six;

Despite this betrayal, this detailed hidden proof

His colleagues could not criticise despite the harsh truth.

In contrast, our new PM has led from the front

Tackling challenges head on and not being such a—stick in the mud;

Already we've enacted a wave of reform

And anticorruption commission and Public Service to transform;

There's fee-free TAFE places, new spots at uni too

We're fixing aged care and the NDIS for you;

We're helping to relieve costs, with cheaper child care

There's discounted medicines and a budget to repair;

And this year we embark on a constitutional choice

On whether we should have an Indigenous voice;

The reasons are clear: to give our First Nations a say

And to those who have supported it, I say: Happy Valentine's Day.