Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this matter of public importance debate initiated by the Leader of the National Party. The reality today is that, wherever you go around this country, there is a lack of confidence about economic management and a lack of security about the future. People are concerned about their jobs and they are saving because they are concerned about what might happen next week, next month or next year. If you walk down the high street of any town or suburb in Australia you will see shops that are closed. You know that businesses are not employing people. Indeed, many of them are laying workers off. When people look for some sense of security at the present time all they see here from the leadership of this country is a sense of chaos and confusion.

Three years ago this week the Australian Labor Party was arguing about who should be the leader—who should be the Prime Minister of Australia. Three years on, this week, what is happening? That same Australian Labor Party is arguing about who should be the leader, the Prime Minister of Australia. Of course, the current Prime Minister came to office having removed the previous Prime Minister by saying, 'We had lost our way'—the government had lost its way. Have they found their way since then? We still have the same chaos—still the sense that the only thing that matters for this government is who lives in the Lodge, who has got the job of Prime Minister, rather than the jobs, the future and the security of the people of Australia.

There is no greater impact upon the cost of living of Australians than the introduction of a carbon tax. Remember prior to the last election that famous statement of the Prime Minister—'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.'

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