Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

To the Manager of Opposition Business who asked the question, can I say: I do not think he has much insight into the meeting that we had. We talked about our vision for the future. Now I know ‘vision’ is a confusing word for members of the opposition. They are all looking at each other now and asking for a definition—‘A what for the future? We don’t have one of those. Ooh, never heard of that.’ We understand you do not know much about vision for the future. We talked about policies and plans for the Australian people. We talked about our goals for the Australian nation. So, yes, we talked about things that matter to Australian families and to keeping our economy strong and prosperous, building it for the future. We talked about tackling climate change and sustainability for our country. We talked about being a fair and inclusive society. We talked about governing for all, and we talked about keeping our nation strong and safe in the world. We talked about positive plans for the future.

Of course, when we look at the Manager of Opposition Business, who has asked this question, what we can say to him is: we understand his frustrations being in a political party in opposition when they had hoped for more. We understand his frustrations that they are there with their three-word slogans, unable to add to them with any positive policies or plans. We understand that there is frustration on the Liberal backbench with the leadership of the Liberal Party—a man who went around with his slogans in the election campaign, driven by focus groups, hollow to the core, no belief for the nation’s future and no ability to add to those policies or plans in opposition—not one positive policy statement since this parliament sat. We understand that it is frustrating for the Manager of Opposition Business and for some on the Liberal backbench. But I would say to the opposition that the solution for this frustration is not to come into this parliament and ask these kinds of questions of the government; it is actually to sit down and see if they are capable of working out what they believe in, what they think the future should hold, what their policies and plans for that future are, and how they cost them and make them add up.

Across all of those phases of positive action and policy development the Liberal Party in this parliament has returned a ‘fail’ in every space. The Leader of the Opposition has been going to Christmas parties and his proudest achievements for this political year are all about hurting other people and stopping things. Not one positive achievement. He cannot go to a Christmas party and say, ‘I celebrate having achieved one thing for the nation this year,’ because there is not one positive idea he has pursued and not one for the Australian people. This is a legacy of wrecking. The Leader of the Opposition seems unable to lift himself beyond wrecking, looking always at his narrow political interest. The problem for the Leader of the Opposition is that you might be able to run a protest vote campaign for a limited period in the run-up to an election, but let me give you some advice: you cannot run one for three years. That is going to be very transparent to the Australian people. Over three years they are going to be on to you—hollow at the core.

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