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

I withdraw. This is this second anniversary of that massive betrayal, that complete breach of faith with the Australian people. Since then, we have had 731 days of deceit—731 days of deception—from this Prime Minister.

We had the Prime Minister in the House today trying to pretend that the carbon tax was not going to do any real harm to anyone—that there would not even be a real increase in the price of power. But if the carbon tax was so harmless, why wasn't she honest enough to be up-front with the Australian people before the last election? That is why standing orders must be suspended. What we have seen in the House today from the Prime Minister is all this talk about what the coalition said in 2007. Has she noticed that we did not win the election in 2007? Has the Prime Minister noticed that the coalition went into the election in 2007 saying 'subject to the world taking similar action'? In fact, what we have had from this government—and this is why standing orders should be suspended—is a double deception. We have had a double betrayal. They went to the 2007 election promising an emissions trading scheme, and they did not deliver it. They went to the 2010 election promising that there would be no carbon tax, and they did deliver it. There has been a double deception from this Prime Minister. The phrase, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,' echoes around this chamber and rings around this country—and doesn't it haunt this Prime Minister! This is a Prime Minister who is too frightened to stay in the chamber and hear the deception that she uttered mentioned again in this chamber.

Every time prices rise in this country, the consumers of this country think 'carbon tax', and every time this Prime Minister makes a statement on any subject at all the voters of this country are reminded of her fundamental betrayal and deception before the last election. We can have all the brazen bluster that this parliament sees so often from the Prime Minister, we can have all the shameless effrontery that this parliament sees from the Prime Minister, but one thing we never hear from this Prime Minister is that little word 'sorry'—the apology that is the least she owes the Australian people after the deception that she practised on them before the last election. She says today, 'If the coalition wins the election, they'll keep the carbon tax.' Then we have the minister for families saying, 'We'll claw it back.' They cannot even get their talking points right. That is how deceptive this government is.

Just imagine—and this is why standing orders should be suspended—that the Prime Minister had been honest. Just imagine that the Prime Minister had gone to the Australian people and said straight up-front, five days before the election, 'Yes, there will be a carbon tax under the government I lead.' Does anybody imagine that she would still be the Prime Minister of this country? What this Prime Minister did was say one thing before the election to win votes and then do the opposite in a squalid, shameful deal with the Greens to stay in the Lodge. Shame, Prime Minister, shame! The least you could do is have the guts to sit in this parliament and listen to this debate rather than scurry off yet again to seek refuge in the whip's office as you do time and time again.

This is not just a broken promise; this is a fundamental breach of trust. This is not just a failure to deliver on the part of the government; this is a failure to understand. It is proof that the Prime Minister and the government just do not get it. We had the Prime Minister stand up in this parliament in 2006 and say in very simple language, 'Labor is the party of truth-telling.' But it is not any more, if it ever was—and it certainly cannot be the party of truth-telling as long as this person leads it. As long as the current Prime Minister leads the Labor Party, they can never be the party of truth-telling. We had the Treasurer up there auditioning in the Prime Minister's week off—he was even singing to us about 'this gun's for hire'—because he knows that this government is doomed as long as it is led by someone whose very word cannot be trusted by the Australian people.

Let's just examine what this Prime Minister did when it came to being truthful about the carbon tax. First of all, she forced the former Prime Minister, the member for Griffith, to abandon his campaign for an emissions trading scheme. We know that the current Prime Minister along with the current Treasurer forced the former Prime Minister to betray his own words and to dump the emissions trading scheme. Then, during the election campaign, the Prime Minister said not only would there not be an emissions trading scheme; there would be a people's convention. Remember that—the people's convention? Nothing at all would happen until this citizens' assembly, this people's convention, had achieved a deep and lasting consensus.

Finally, after I had said on at least 15 separate occasions that as sure as night follows day if this government were re-elected there would be a carbon tax, the Treasurer came out and said, 'That's a hysterical allegation,' and that obviously was not enough to persuade the public. So there was the Prime Minister five days before the election, in all her glory, saying: 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' This was a cold-blooded, deliberate deception of the Australian people.

This is a Prime Minister who has form when it comes to betrayal. She betrayed the former Prime Minister over the prime ministership; she betrayed the member for Denison over poker machine reform; she betrayed the member for Scullin over the speakership; and then there was the ultimate betrayal of the Australian people over a carbon tax. This is the deception that haunts this Prime Minister. This is the deception that will haunt her to a political grave. This is the deception that will dog this government to the next election. Make no mistake—the next election will be not only a referendum on the carbon tax; it will also be a referendum on prime ministers who do not tell the truth.

When I say, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,' I can be believed. On day 1 of an incoming government, the public servants will get their instruction. On day 1 of a new parliament, the legislation to repeal the carbon tax will be introduced. We will keep our commitments. Just because we have a Prime Minister now who does not keep her commitments—who has truth deficit disorder—she should never assume other people are like that. I am different. When I say something, I mean it. I do not sell my soul to minor parties the way this Prime Minister has. (Time expired)

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