Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion of censure on the Prime Minister.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah from moving forthwith:

That this House censures the Prime Minister for her consistent failure to be honest with the Australian people.

We have a right to move a censure motion in this parliament, and the Prime Minister has an obligation to respond. She has a duty to this parliament and she should not shirk her duty. I have to say no previous Prime Minister, no Prime Minister in living memory, would be as cowardly in facing this parliament as this Prime Minister is. That is why standing orders should be suspended.

Standing orders must be suspended because this parliament needs to debate the Prime Minister's consistent failure to be open and honest with the Australian people. And hasn't there been a long litany of betrayals? There was her failure to be straight with the member for Griffith over the prime-ministership. There was her failure to be honest with the Australian people before the last election over the carbon tax. There was her failure to be honest and straight with the member for Denison over poker machine reform. There was her betrayal of the member for Scullin over the speakership. There was her failure, seen again and again in question time this week, to be honest with the Australian people and this parliament over the carbon tax, pretending time and time again that it had no impact on the decision to close the Kurri Kurri smelter when plainly it had every impact on that decision.

Is it any wonder that Bill Kelty, in desperation over the legend of the Labor Party, said to his former colleagues, 'Start with the truth. Why don't you try the truth?' This is a Prime Minister who has never seen the truth, never known the truth and, if she ever saw it, she would flee from it, as she flees from this parliament day in, day out. Where this Prime Minister has particularly failed to be straight with the people and the parliament—and this is why standing orders should be suspended—is over the member for Dobell and his statement to the parliament earlier this week.

At a human level, I have a great deal of sympathy for the member for Dobell. All of us in this chamber, including members on this side of the House, have a great deal of sympathy at a human level for the member for Dobell. We have no sympathy though for a government and for a prime minister who have put him in this position by insisting that he remain in the parliament when the honourable course of action for him would be to resign. That would be the honourable course of action for the member for Dobell. Standing orders must be suspended—

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