Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

On this matter of public importance we have just been treated to another lecture from the high moral ground by the Assistant Treasurer—as he leaves the chamber—defending the failure of this government: their failure on trust and their failure on competence. He might leave the chamber, just as he leaves every single issue of importance in his portfolio.

The Assistant Treasurer said the Australian public should not be scared about the future. The Australian public are scared about the Gillard government. They are scared about what they are doing and what they will do if they get the chance. This matter of public importance goes to the heart of the failure of this government. Australians are losing confidence because of this government. They are losing confidence because this has proved to be an incompetent government and because this government cannot be trusted. Those members opposite—the Assistant Treasurer has departed the chamber—will stand here and defend 3½ years of utter incompetence. It is incompetence on a scale we have not seen before.

Policy failure and policy debacle from this government are like matchbox cars: there are a million of them. You start at the beginning, as the shadow Treasurer did, and you move through each budget and each announce­ment. Every announcement they have made of any scale has either blown out or not been delivered. The shadow Treasurer mentioned the computers in schools—$1.2 billion, I think he said.

See this speech in context