Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

He said this, Mr Speaker:

... coming back from a period of three years on the back bench and not having had a good look at what they were doing, I wasn’t sure about that at the time. Now, I am ... They are fit and ready for government.

Let me tell you, Mr Speaker, that if they were fit and ready for government you would be standing by your shadow ministers in their preselection. You would be standing by the member for Maribyrnong, you would be standing by the member for Corio, you would be standing by the member for Hotham—and the reason you don’t is you are beholden to the sleaze of the Victorian Labor Party and the war lords who direct you.

See this speech in context