Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The shambles today will only add to international unease about this government and the lack of trust and confidence in it. The last time sovereign risk was an issue for investors in this country was in the dying days of the Whitlam government, universally regarded as the worst government in our nation's history—that is until now. This pitiful excuse for a national government is giving the Whitlam government a run for its money. The track record of this Prime Minister reveals a pattern that underpins the worst government in living memory.

The Prime Minister promised the member for Griffith, repeatedly, that she was a loyal deputy and would not challenge him for the leadership. The member for Griffith was betrayed. When the end came, it was swift, it was brutal, it was ruthless. The Prime Minister kept him occupied in a meeting while her factional bullies worked the phones that evening. She gave the member for Griffith her word. She gave him her commitment that he could keep the job, until she got the word that the factional bullies had given her the numbers. It was a brutal execution of a first-term Prime Minister who was publicly treated with the trademark contempt of this Prime Minister. Then she trashed his reputation. Not content with betraying him, she trashed his reputation and said, 'He had lost his way.' And do not forget the key reason for the downfall of the member for Griffith was his abandonment of his emissions trading scheme, the very course of action that this Prime Minister proposed. Machiavelli would have been proud of the web she weaved in order to deceive.

Then we had the Prime Minister announce she would establish an East Timor processing centre, only to deny it, and then to re-embrace it. This twisting and turning led the veteran journalist Laurie Oakes to describe her behaviour as 'silly and slippery and slimy and shifty'. Little did Mr Oakes realise that he had defined this Prime Minister's career. At the same time as she scrapped the resources rent tax, she introduced a mining tax—a secret deal done behind closed doors. To this day, after ramming that tax through the chamber, we have no idea of the details of that secret deal—more secrecy, more contempt for the Australian people and the Australian parliament.

Then there was her infamous promise six days before the election, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' And then, desperate to cling to power, she trashed her promise to the Australian people. When it came to a choice between honouring her commitment to the Australian people or clinging to power, she chose power. No wonder people are saying, 'If Australia's a lucky country, how come only— (Time expired)

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