Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

'The statements that need to be taken absolutely as gospel truth are those carefully prepared, scripted remarks.' These are the words of the member for Warringah in 2010 during an interview on ABC TV—a man who sees himself as the next Prime Minister of Australia. The Leader of the Opposition admits that his words mean nothing unless they are written down and scripted. Tasmanians should be very worried about an Abbott-led government. The Leader of the Opposition, at his own admission, cannot be trusted when he says that Tasmanians will not be worse off under the opposition's plans to change the way the GST is distributed amongst the states.

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition has also let it slip that she believes that Premier Colin Barnett has a point on GST, yet, on the numerous trips the Leader of the Opposition has taken to Tasmania since his comments in May of last year, he would not commit to putting his plans in writing. In Barry Prismall's editorial in the Examineron 5 February, he also challenged the opposition leader to come clean on this issue. I suspect that the Leader of the Opposition will continue to say and do anything in his speech for power, dodging questions and scrutiny all the way, regardless of whether he believes the statement to be true or not. Come clean, Member for Warringah. Either you are telling tales to your mates in the west or you are telling tales to the people of Tasmania.

See this speech in context