John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago, the Prime Minister summoned her caucus to gather around with some butcher's paper, pencils at the ready, to develop policy for our nation's future. One can only wonder at the thoughts that must have been passing through the minds of her enthused backbenchers. The party that 'lost its way' has built on the 'year of decision and delivery' and now has the butcher's paper that will lead it through 2012 and beyond.

To keep some perspective, let us take a moment to contrast how others go about the business of strategic planning. In the corporate world the development of investment strategies is partnered with intensive due diligence, as expert decision makers analyse the direction in which the company is going to travel. At the centre are fiscal prudence and responsibility to shareholders, checked by an assortment of banks and accountants who independently scrutinise every last dollar. Smaller companies take risks; big businesses are more conservative, more responsible and more accountable, using their vast resources to perpetuate their success.

It seems the biggest business of all, the one that runs our country and answers to over 22 million shareholders, operates a little bit differently. This group with the butcher's paper has a record of investment which includes flammable pink batts, unwanted school halls and $900 gifts to dead people—and the NBN, such a brilliant idea that it was created on the back of a beer coaster at 30,000 feet! The riches gained and grown over 12 years of good government have all washed away within just a few years of 'hard Labor'.

In contrast, on the other side of the aisle, Tony Abbott and Andrew Robb preside over an all-inclusive structure—

See this speech in context