Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

He never can defend this government. It is unbelievable. They are in this position because the Prime Minister is so weak and unable to stand up to anybody in his party. It is that chaotic. He is so weak. They are not actually doing the job that they were voted in for, to govern the country. That is what you are voted in for. They did not defend any of that; they did not defend any policies before; they just could not do it. And they cannot do it because there are so many divisions within their party.

We have a Prime Minister unable to make any decisions because he is so beholden to those right-wing extremists in both the Liberal Party and the National Party. The National Party thinks this is great. They think it is Christmas. They think it is great that they are on telly all the time demanding what government policy might be. They think it is wonderful. Unfortunately, the rest of the country is pretty worried about this, because they know how extremist their views are. Perhaps even worse, we know the effects of the harsh cuts that the National Party will continue to pursue in health, education and community infrastructure. We know what they will do. Make no mistake about it, in regional areas we blame the Nationals for all the extreme cuts that we have seen in country areas. We know what they are like. So it surely is a measure of the Prime Minister's character that all we see is dithering, weakness, unwillingness and his inability to stand up to those in his party.

There are so many serious divisions in the government as well. Let's have a look at the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah—parading around on 7.30 last night acting like he is like the Prime Minister in exile. Every time he is on telly, or here, that is all he does. Ever since he was dumped as Prime Minister he has been out there backgrounding, undermining, waiting to come back.

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