Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to rise and speak on this MPI. It started off with the opposition leader making an apology for the lie that he told Neil Mitchell. He has not made an apology to Ben Fordham that he was not involved in 'assassinating' Prime Minister Julia Gillard. It is terrific to hear this apology, and it is very embarrassing for the opposition leader, but Labor has many more apologies to make: an apology to Australians for spending like there is no tomorrow. Even on Sky this morning the member for Rankin, when the member for Reid talked about the cupboard not just being bare but disappearing altogether, the member for Rankin started laughing, because he knows that that is the case. They not only made the cupboard bare but also they absolutely destroyed and wrecked out nation's finances.

So, while Labor is at it, they should be making an apology to Australians for bringing down not one Prime Minister but two, an apology for saying that there would be 'no carbon tax under the government we lead'—a carbon tax that destroyed jobs, racked up electricity bills and inflicted a $1.1 billion penalty on manufacturing, which for my electorate, for Geelong and for Corangamite, was an absolute disgrace. The damage it did to small business was unbelievable: 519,000 people lost their jobs in small business under six years. They should be making an apology for delivering a mining tax that raised virtually no revenue, an apology for delivering virtually no NBN and blowing out the NBN by $29 billion and an apology for not delivering three free trade agreements. And just to remind Australians of how important these are, a Chinese FTA will deliver 178,000 jobs over the next 20 years. It is a fantastic achievement, and we are very proud of it.

An apology is needed to Australians for not fixing mobile phone black spots—an appalling decision by Labor to neglect and abandon country communities. I am so proud today that we have announced such an extensive mobile phone black spot program, including 10 mobile phone base stations in my electorate of Corangamite. I can tell you that we have fixed 115 blackspots in Corangamite—they know which side of politics stands up for them, and it is certainly not the Labor Party. That was a disgraceful decision to leave those people high and dry with no communications—small businesses, small farmers. Not one cent was spent on mobile phone black spots. It was a very grave error of judgement and they should be ashamed of that decision.

Labor should be apologising to pensioners for not backing a pension increase of $30 a fortnight to the most vulnerable 170,000 pensioners in our community—the most vulnerable. The Greens were even ashamed by Labor's stand and that is why they backed our economically responsible decision in relation to pensions.

An apology is needed to seniors for Labor threatening their superannuation, creating anxiety and uncertainty. An apology is needed to Australians for leaving our economy in rack and ruin. An apology is needed to young Australians for doing virtually nothing to combat youth unemployment. An apology is needed to Australians for losing control of our borders. We all know the hideous consequences that flowed from that absolute neglect.

I would like to raise one particular issue. The member for Sydney owes the Prime Minister a personal apology. Talk about lying—the member for Sydney made an allegation about the Prime Minister she knows to be false. She said the Prime Minister knew about a fundraising activity from the Victorian division of the Liberal Party. The Prime Minister in question time made it quite clear he knew nothing about that. That is an example of the Labor Party asserting whatever it likes—it does not matter what the facts are.

The member for Sydney should get to that box and make a personal apology to the Prime Minister for the most appalling mistruth before this parliament, knowing that that was absolutely untrue. She stood there while she was in the process of trying to assassinate the Leader of the Opposition—we all know what is going on. Will she confess to what she is doing or will she tell Australians that she stands by the Leader of the Opposition? Many people on the other side no longer stand by the Leader of the Opposition. You wrecked our economy and we are fixing the economy and we are securing Australia's borders. (Time expired)

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