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

as understood by the Hawke and Keating governments. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound a bit familiar? Well, it's all contained in this speech. This is the bloodied dagger masquerading as a speech from the member for Grayndler, plunged into the chest of the Leader of the Opposition. This is the speech in which the member for Grayndler has staked his credentials as the next leader of the Labor Party. Make no mistake. He is still holding out. He's still pretending that the Labor Party has a place for aspiration in it. He's the Lieutenant Onoda of the Labor Party caucus. He's refusing to accept that the Hawke-Keating legacy has been abandoned by the Labor Party. He's darting from one ALP event to the other, between rubber chicken and party pies and pasties, giving a speech here, dropping a column there and trailing his coat-tails so that the Labor Party know that they have an option in the member for Grayndler. He is using the traditional tactics of the guerrilla jungle warrior: appearing and then disappearing again. It's okay. We're not going to let him disappear from view. We're going to make sure the member for Grayndler stays front and centre, like a ninja warrior. We're going to make sure that he gets every opportunity to promote his aspirational agenda for the Labor Party.

Unfortunately, though, I have bad news for the member for Grayndler. The bad news is that the Leader of the Opposition is not interested in this alternative agenda. He's decided he wants to have a war on business. He wants the CFMMEU to be at the cabinet table in a future Labor government. He wants to reject the aspirations of Australians and also reject the Hawke-Keating legacy. He scoffs at aspiration, so I think it's going to be a long, cold winter for the member for Grayndler. I table this speech—this bloodied dagger masquerading as the Gough Whitlam Oration.

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