Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I say to the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support, who is at the table, that, when the Australian people are promised action and it does not happen, they get very disappointed. They get very, very disappointed. You have made a lot of promises on these issues and you are not following through on them. You mislead people before an election, you create perceptions out there in the community and, when you get into government, you start to shuffle away and the only way you can try and paper over it is with a bill such as this, which seeks to change a name. You cannot change your name if you are not going to change the attitude that sits behind it. There is no change of attitude in this bill. There is nothing in terms of a change of action in it. It is all just papering over the top.

Labor are no more tough on protecting our borders than they are economic conservatives, believe in reducing debt or deliver surpluses. These are all things the Labor government promised in opposition and have been absolutely hopeless at delivering in government. They are quite happy to create perceptions out in the community and lead the community to believe that their vote was safe with them, whether on border protection or economic conservatism, which is about responsible economic management and not driving up interest rates and talking up inflation. But the community have a right to expect that the government that has been elected will follow through on their pledges and their statements of philosophy on these issues—whether on reducing debt, on delivering surpluses or, for those in the Christian community who thought their vote was safe, on things like aid and abortion. What we have seen from this government is a betrayal of all of the perceptions they created, and what we have seen in this bill is their willingness to try and cover over all these things with a simple name change. Labor are no more tough on protecting our borders than they are economic conservatives who believe in reducing debt and delivering surpluses.

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