Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What an interesting day! I am a new member here, from Tasmania, and looking to learn much. And what do I get? I get an MPI that talks about the failure of this government to develop a domestic economic agenda. That would be like getting a lecture on care and compassion from Hannibal Lecter! Seriously! What an unbelievable MPI we see.

A government member: They're all leaving!

Off they go! Off they trot—they do not want to face the truth. They are all leaving—they are not actually interested in being here to be accountable for what they have just said.

Let us just take up one of the last little matters we talked about: Holden. Yesterday, the old Nick Champion over there, the federal member for Wakefield, fell for the trap. He pulled out the old A4 sheet and could not hold himself down, and he got kicked out. What did it say? Back in 2012:

I—

the member for Wakefield—

have secured guaranteed support for GM Holden Elizabeth, ensuring production until—

Until when?

2022.

How dare they come in here on any day—let alone today—and talk about the fact that this government is the reason that the automotive industry is under pressure? We have lived for six years in this country under the absolute wastefulness of the former government, the Labor Party of Australia. They worshipped for six years at the altar of waste: pink batts—billions of dollars to implement and fix. Whether it was Fuel Watch or Grocery Watch, whether it was school halls or whether it was just anything that they put their hand to, it was a disaster. NBN—you would not even want to talk about it, because it would make you have nightmares at night.

The reality here is that this government is all about growth. That is what we are about, and what I want this government to be about—and can I just say that I have spent the last four years in the state parliament, sitting back and watching this country deteriorate. That is what fired me up to make a shift from state politics to federal politics because this country has that much to go—

See this speech in context