Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, in the immortal words of Ron Burgundy:

That escalated quickly …

Just 521 days after the election of the Abbott government, less than 18 months after the current Prime Minister promised a 'grown up, adult' government, the current Prime Minister made history by facing the fastest motion to spill their leadership position of any Australian PM since Federation. This flutter certainly attracted a lot of attention. It really got out of hand fast. It really jumped things up a notch. I think I even saw Wyatt Roy throw a trident at one point.

Historians were particularly interested to see whether Tony Abbott would officially take the crown from William McMahon and become the worst Prime Minister in modern times. For the record, though, the Prime Minister still needs to survive another 116 days to best Billy in the worst PM stakes—in terms of tenure at least. So that is something to keep in mind for the inevitable post-budget challenge. Tony has until June to avoid ignominy.

But, despite the attention on the spill, the result was a bit of a fizzer. None of the mooted saviours of the Liberal-National government put up their hands. The failed opposition leader, the failed former shadow Treasurer and the failed former managing director of Tourism Australia all kept their powder dry. As a result, when the spill eventuated, only 39 Liberal MPs were terrified enough to put their hand up and vote for 'anyone but the current PM'. 'Tick-tock' Tony lives to bungle another day! He didn't waste any time and pronounced with a beguiling lack of self-perception in a press conference that very afternoon, 'Good government starts today'. But here's the rub.

Despite his admission that Australia has been subjected to a 'bad' government from this current ministry, we have seen absolutely no change in what they are serving up to the Australian public. The morning after the day before, can anyone in this place name a single policy that has changed as a result of yesterday's events? As the Bard once said, this attempted spill has been:

… a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

It is true that the Prime Minister is:

… but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more …

But, despite the PM's effective political death, there has been no rebirth of this government's connection with the Australian people. As the finance minister told the ABC on the weekend, not a single minister in this cabinet, none of the contenders in the 'Game of Tones', has complained, even privately, that the measures in this government's budget were unfair—not the $80 billion in cuts to schools and hospitals; not the attack on the pension; not the tax on the sick, the GP tax; not the $100,000 university degree debt sentence.

See this speech in context