Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

The great tragedy in Australian politics is not what went on in the government party room last night but the fact that we have more people looking for work in Australian today than at any time in the last 20 years—over 800,000 of them, 10,000 in my own electorate. You would think with statistics like that there would be more people on that side of the House worried about the people who are looking for jobs. These people are just worried about their own jobs, but that is the tragic truth about what is going on.

It takes a lot more than to stand around today and chant about the importance of unity to focus on the needs of Australia, because we know that there are 44 members on that side of the House who did not vote for their new Prime Minister. We also know that not one member of the National Party voted for the new Prime Minister, so it is going to take a lot more than chanting 'unity' to create unity. The fact is this: we have the same horse but a new jockey, and this flashy new jockey has no plan to deal with unemployment. He still backs the GP tax and the attacks on Medicare and the attacks on our public hospitals. He still backs the $100,000 university degrees. I ask you to think about all of the things that you think you like about Malcolm Turnbull, the new Prime Minister of Australia, and I will tell you this: he has let you down on every single one of then.

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