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

I thank the opposition for so visibly demonstrating my point in the last few minutes: they do not listen. They did not listen to the question, they do not listen to the scientists, they do not absorb any facts—they just do not care. The little shambles we just saw over there, where they were joking about whether smoking causes climate change, should cause Australians to recoil in horror, because what it means is that the opposition could not care less about either. They do not care about climate change; they are sceptics. They do not care about smoking; they are too big on the drip from big tobacco to take anything about smoking seriously.

Maybe the smoke that they care about is the smoke that shows there is a fire of division over there in the opposition. We have the division on display at the end of this week: the Leader of the Opposition versus the shadow Treasurer; the Leader of the Opposition versus the member for Wentworth; the Leader of the Opposition versus the Deputy Leader of the Opposition; and the famous five who have been singled out for criticism by the Chief Opposition Whip. They are a divided opposition who are incapable of taking in facts and evidence and incapable of designing a policy for the nation's future. (Time expired)

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