Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Where is Senator Bob Carr when you need him? There is no talk about the people's welfare, cost of living or our nation's future. All we have is this ugly, self-indulgent talk about leadership. And the man who fronted the TV cameras immediately after the national apology had this to say about Mr Rudd: 'He can't be Prime Minister again.' Oh, I forgot: that was only 12 months ago. Today, supposedly, he can be Prime Minister. Indeed, the member for Bendigo said, 'Only a psychopath with a giant ego would line up again.' Listen to the stories of the chaos, of the temperament, of the inability to have decisions made. They are not stories; they were fact according to one of Ms Gillard's cabinet ministers.

Now I ask the Senate, I ask the Australian people: was the dysfunction of the Rudd government bad? Absolutely it was, and Mr Burke nailed it with those comments. But it does beg a further question: is Australia in better shape today than she was under Kevin Rudd's leadership? Whilst Kevin Rudd's leadership was dysfunctional—