Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am coming to you, old son! On the one hand they say jobs are going to be created by the carbon tax; on the other hand Eric Roozendaal warns Swan on coal job losses, he writes to him about that. We are on Eric Roozendaal’s side just on that one. On the one hand the Prime Minister says it is in the national interest to move on pricing carbon. Yet I feel sorry for the foreign minister over there; his heart must be contracting every time this Prime Minister says it is in the national interest to move on carbon pricing, because this is the Prime Minister that not long ago told that man to dump an emissions trading scheme—that it was in the Labor Party’s interest not to act. Of course, there could be no better illustration of the government’s schizophrenia than the fact that this Prime Minister ran out there and told the Australian people that there would be tax cuts associated with it. The government encouraged Ross Garnaut to go out there and talk about the Henry tax cuts—even briefing out the front page of national papers on a Newspoll weekend, and yet today the dead cat is on the table. There are no tax cuts. They are phantom tax cuts. They are not real. It is this government again engaging in deceit.

Mr Speaker, I would say to you this is having a profound impact not only on investment confidence; it is having a profound impact on consumer confidence, it is having a profound impact on Australian families, and it is having a profound impact on the confidence Australians have in their Prime Minister and in their government. It is just part of everyday policy, whether it be border protection, whether it be royalties in relation to the mining tax, or whether it be a host of policy issues. It is a government that is confused, a government that is directionless, a government without principle and a government without a soul.

From our perspective and the perspective of the Australian people, I would say to this government: dump the politics. We see the Labor MPs are ordered to distance the government from the Greens. In a week’s time we will see Greens MPs ordered to distance themselves from Labor. I would say to you, Mr Speaker: now is the time to go to the Australian people. Now is the time for the Prime Minister to have some ticker, to have some courage, to have some consistency. Go to the Australian people and ask them whether it is right for you to break yet another promise. (Time expired)

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