Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week in question time, finding themselves with a product they could not sell, the government renamed it and tried again. The result was hilarity and disbelief. How gullible do they think we and the public are? Now they have done it again! They have changed the salesman. They are rehashing an old style guide. 'Try this version,' they say: less lycra, more leather; fewer slogans and more tortured metaphors from the member for Wentworth. But the product has not changed. The priorities have not changed. I know the questions the locals in my community are asking. Do they still believe Labor and the public's rejection of the cruel budget measures is 'unprincipled', as the member for Warringah said less than an hour ago? Do they still believe in $100,000 degrees? Do they still believe people should pay more to go to the doctor? Do they still think a sleek ad campaign will fix the problems we face with ice? Do they still think that their budgets have fixed the economy? Do they still think casual workers do not deserve penalty rates? The answers are yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. This is not a new government. They just turned the lazy susan in the Vietnamese restaurant around. The spring roll tastes the same.

See this speech in context