Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You will get your chance to speak if you like. Give me a yes or a no. Are you going to vote in favour of the Fuelwatch legislation? Will you pass it through the Senate? They do not want to give us an answer, because they have not decided yet. This goes back to the original comments that I made at the start of my speech today. They are a party divided. They do not know what they stand for anymore. What happened to the party of John Howard—’Love me or loathe me; at least you know where I stand’? What happened to that? It is a bit like the Hydra from Greek mythology: if you cut off the head, two heads rise up; if you cut off the leader, two more leaders rise up; if you cut off the policy, a multitude of other policies rise up. At least with John Howard you knew where you stood. There was not this flip-flopping on climate change, petrol and industrial relations. The only thing they stand for anymore is vote-buying. I never thought I would say this in this chamber, but with John Howard—love him or loathe him—at least you knew where he stood.

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