Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It is quite extraordinary. They are a special breed, the Australian Labor Party. They truly are a special breed. To start with, we had the Leader of the Opposition come into the chamber and make comments about how only the Australian Labor Party could be trusted.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

I hear the member for Moreton making an inane interjection about the fact that I am losing my voice. Is it really beyond your intellectual capability? Come on, Member for Moreton, make a better contribution—although, unfortunately, it fits the standard that we usually see from the Australian Labor Party.

Let us talk about what we heard from the Leader of the Opposition. What we heard from the Leader of the Opposition was how only Labor can be trusted. The Leader of the Opposition said he is the man who needs to be trusted. Ordinarily, at face value, that would seem like a reasonable proposition. You would expect the Leader of the Opposition to back himself. But today, of all days, is not a day for the Leader of the Opposition to stand up and talk about trust—not after Paul Kelly has published his new book, Triumph and Demise.

What does the very distinguished author Paul Kelly say about the Leader of the Opposition? I quote from page 465 of his book. He says: 'The distrust between Rudd and Shorten was intense and injuring. The Gillard camp was contemptuous of Shorten, considering him weak and duplicitous. Neither side trusted him and neither side revised its view.' We also know that the former member for Rankin had views about the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Emerson is quoted in the book as saying: 'He was telling both camps what they wanted to hear. It did not come as a surprise to anyone when he declared for Rudd at the end.' Well, there's a revelation: the Leader of the Opposition talks out of both sides of his mouth! But he sets the bar for the entirety of the Australian Labor Party.

Here we have the shadow Treasurer, and he stands up and says, 'We in the Australian Labor Party are deeply concerned about equity. We in the Australian Labor Party really care about the future. Just look at our stunning track record on the environment. We do not want Australian children to inherit an environment that is worse than what we received.' Perversely, this is the Australian Labor Party.

See this speech in context