Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to associate myself with the words of the member for Reid. My sincere prayers and condolences go to the family of Phillip Hughes.

They are very interesting words to put in an MPI: 'failure to provide leadership'. I remind those on the other side of the chamber of something about leadership. John Curtin once campaigned on the most controversial issue in the Australian parliament—conscription—and went to the parliament saying he would be vehemently against conscription. When he became Prime Minister, John Curtin—arguably Australia's greatest Prime Minister—introduced conscription, because the person who represented the seat I now occupy crossed the floor to the Labor Party. That is how history defines leadership: someone who did something that was contrary to what they believed but knew they had to do it for the benefit of the country.

We took government thinking that we had an $18 billion deficit in our operating budget. It turned into a $30 billion deficit. Then, when the figures came in, it worked out at $48 billion. We hear a lot about cuts to the ABC. We hear indignation about trying to find $50 million of savings out of our public broadcaster. The irony of it all is that $50 million will only pay the interest on our national debt for 33 hours. Think about that for a moment. The challenge we have is to get our economy back on track. A strong economy affords us the opportunity to build a great society. What separates the people who have a Conservative understanding, and an understanding of business, from those who do not is that we know that money not grow on trees. We have to pay for it. We have to have a strong economy so that we can grow, develop and deliver things we want. A great society is one that has a good defence system. A great society is one that provides for those who are unwell. A great society is one that provides education for our children. A great society is one that believes, looks after and honours individual achievement, individual freedoms and individual endeavour. We want to build that great society, but we know that we can only do that if we have a strong economy.

They claim there has been a 'failure to provide leadership'. When I look at what the Prime Minister of this country, Tony Abbott, inherited compared to what Prime Minister Kevin Rudd inherited, I would argue that he has provided leadership. Sometimes it has been on things that I as a backbencher have not always approved of. Sometimes it has been on things that I know are unpleasant for the Australian people. But has he provided leadership? There is no doubt about that. Leadership is about taking the people with you on a journey through something that is difficult. Leadership is about facing the challenges and saying, 'We can do this together.' Leadership is not whingeing and moaning. Leadership is not shirking from your responsibilities. Leadership is about making hard choices.

I remind those in the Labor Party that their greatest Prime Minister had to go against everything he originally stood for to provide leadership at the time of Australia's greatest crisis. We are not in a war, but we are in an amazingly difficult financial situation. It is a situation we have never found ourselves in before, with a national debt we have never seen so big. It is the leadership of Prime Minister Tony Abbott that is going to lead us through that. I think it would be very fair to say that we have adults in the room, adults who know that strong leadership is about making hard choices, not just making populist choices.

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