'Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.' Walter Scott's words come to mind when I look at the mess the Prime Minister has found himself in this week over the Marrickville Golf Club. It started with a $6 million grant to the club where he is an honorary member. When the member for Indi asked questions, an attempted dirt sheet on her from the Prime Minister's own office ended up with journalists. In question time yesterday, when two members asked about the same golf course, the Prime Minister couldn't help himself; he started menacing them with similar veiled threats—and, of course, the story keeps changing. This is a leader who yelled, 'Smash her, smash her,' to one of his frontbenchers. In September, the Saturday Paper quoted a close ally on his factional dominance. I won't go into the words used to describe that female colleague; they were appalling and they were violent. He needs to take a good look in the mirror. It should be condemned.

Right now there's a deficit of trust in the institution of politics, and that is a great shame. We have a prime minister who has exhausted his line of credit with the truth. He is running a deficit of decency. This prime minister called for a change in tone in the way we do politics. I agree. It's about time he looked in the mirror, because Australians deserve so much better.