Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I think she still leads the government. I know that she is still living in the Lodge, even if it has got a bit leaky! Occasionally, she gets to sit in the Prime Minister's chair, although she has run away from it now. The reality is that we know that Bob Brown runs the government but she is still the Prime Minister. She leads the government. She has broken her promise. The reality is that this Prime Minister has betrayed the trust of the Australian people. She is not fit to fill the office. She deserves to be censured and she needs to be censured today so that the Australian people know that there are some people of decency and goodwill in this parliament who really respect the fundamental traits of our democracy: government of the people by the people for the people. The public have made their views on what they think about this carbon tax absolutely clear. This is the only consensus this Prime Minister has achieved. Remember her promise to develop a consensus before we had a carbon tax? She has the consensus: the people of Australia say no to the carbon tax. If the government want to govern for the people in the interests of the people they will say no and will not impose this tax upon them. What we have here are the Australian people being shut out. They are being ignored. They are being treated with disdain by this Australian government. Many of them are going to have to meet the higher costs of living, all of them associated with this tax. Some of them will lose their jobs.

International competitors will be delighted. They are looking forward to the feast from picking up our markets around the world or extending their exports of cheap products to this country. The reality is this government has let us down. If tyranny is an abuse of power by a few over the will of the people then sadly tyranny has come to Australia this day. We expect that kind of thing in Libya. We expect a lot better here. (Time expired)

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