Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I see the junior woodchucks doing all the shouting. They tend to do that when they sense a leadership change coming. That has been my experience over the last 22 years. My experience has been that the junior woodchucks get very shouty when they feel a leadership change coming because they want to impress the other pretenders on the frontbench with how good they are—they want to get on the frontbench if the leadership changes.

Opposition members interjecting—

The member for Melbourne Ports knows exactly what I am talking about. His days of being shouty are well and truly over, it must be said. He has become very boutique, the member for Melbourne Ports. But other younger members of the opposition are very shouty because they are trying to impress the people's choice over here, the shadow Treasurer, and others who might want to seek to replace the member for Maribyrnong.

The government of course have all issues on the table, because we are a mature government. Of course we are talking about things to do with taxation—and the economy and growth and jobs—because the Australian public expects a mature political discourse. This opposition are not up to a mature political discourse. That is the sadness of it and that is why they are being marked down by the Australian public and will continue to be until they start to focus on substantial policy discussion.

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