Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed. Thank you, member for Boothby. It deserves an opposition that reads the newspapers and holds the government accountable. An operational and working opposition is an integral part of our democracy. But what do we have? We have tokens. What did the former Labor leader say of the member for Grayndler? He said:

When I rang him he said, “I know Kim is hopelessly conservative, but I started the campaign against Crean, and I’m going to see it through. I wish we had someone else to run, but that wasn’t the case. Beazley was the only one who put up his hand.” I told him the vote might be 46-all, and he agreed. He said if he thought that was the case on Tuesday morning, he would vote for me to break the deadlock. Not the sort of guy you would want in the trenches next to you. Crean calls him a habitual liar and I think he’s right.

See this speech in context