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

To the member's question: really, one wonders about the levels of delusion on display over there. Let us just go through some of the facts. The opposition has moved 57 censures or suspensions. That means they have lost the opportunity to ask 359 questions. That means they have lost, in total, 31 hours and two minutes of question time. That means they have lost, in total, the equivalent of 14 question times.

What the opposition shows in this parliament every day is that it does not want to debate the real issues facing the Australian people; it wants to engage in negativity and spin. So it comes in with these kinds of questions which we have heard today—nothing serious ever about the economy, nothing serious about the budget, nothing on the future of health, nothing on the future of education, nothing on building the future economy, nothing on our relationships with our region, nothing on the defence or national security of the nation—nothing of meaning. The opposition comes in with its cheap politics and then it follows up its pathetic attempts in question time with the Leader of the Opposition or, increasingly, the Manager of Opposition Business, just carrying on with their cheap politics for 25 minutes.

If the member over there thinks that is accountability, or the appropriate way for a member of parliament to conduct themselves, then he is seriously out of touch. Can I suggest he gets himself in touch by standing at a school gate in front of a school in his electorate, looking every working mum and every working dad in the eye and saying, 'I don't believe you should get the schoolkids bonus.'

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