Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the result in the Farrer by-election. Let's not dress this one up; it was a political disaster for the Liberal Party. Farrer is not some inner city seat that the Liberals were never going to win; it was not a once-in-a-generation fluke. This is a seat that the Liberal Party held for 60 of the 86 years it has existed. It was Sussan Ley's seat for 25 years. After the Liberal Party removed its first-ever female leader, even before she had the chance to deliver a budget-in-reply speech, voters in her old seat delivered Angus Young a humiliating verdict. They looked at the new Liberal leadership and said 'absolutely no thanks'. That is how badly the Liberals have lost their way. They dumped Sussan Ley, they lurched further to the right, they chased One Nation votes, they copied One Nation policies and they handed One Nation their preferences. What was the result? They did not win back their conservative voters. They delivered One Nation its first-ever elected member of the House of Representatives. That is not a strategy; that is surrender.

The Liberal Party used to claim it was a party of government; now it can't even hold one of its safest historic seats without helping One Nation through the door. Already, the Liberals, One Nation and the Nationals are openly discussing how they might work together as the new right-wing coalition and try to win the next election. Australians should be paying attention to that, because One Nation doesn't stand up for working people. When energy bill relief came before the parliament, they voted 'no'. When Help to Buy came before the parliament, they voted 'no'. When Labor moved to close loopholes to criminalise wage theft and protect workers, they voted 'no'. They talk about cost-of-living relief, but they voted against that relief. They talk about ordinary Australians, but they always vote with the Liberals.

Today, Labor is absolutely going to deliver a responsible budget focused on reform and resilience. (Time expired)