Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We thought things were pretty bad when former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who promised no cuts to the ABC and SBS, no cuts to health and no cuts to education, did just that when he came to office. He cut every one of those things. He broke promises. We thought that was a new low in politics. But this country has never seen anyone quite like Prime Minister Morrison, a man who acts only in his own interests and does not act in the interests of all Australians. I'm very happy to spend the next four minutes and 15 seconds backing that up. Sadly, that will not be enough time to cover all the ways in which he has failed Australians, but let's give it a go.

I think we felt this most keenly in Macquarie—this failure to act in the interests of Australians—when the Prime Minister didn't show his face in my electorate when the fires were burning. In the Black Summer, the largest fire from a single ignition point was sending smoke everywhere and traumatising people as the waves of flames came, not for days, not for weeks, but for months, but the Prime Minister didn't make an appearance. He flew over us on his way to somewhere else. We didn't expect him to hold a hose—although former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was there early one morning at Hawkesbury RFS headquarters, ready to spend the day literally holding a hose. While I rarely saw eye to eye with Mr Abbott on policy, I thanked him for his support of my community in our hour, or months, of need. I had no cause to extend the same thanks to the Prime Minister, because he didn't show up—and not for the floods either. As far as I know, he still hasn't come to see, on the ground, the extraordinary damage in my electorate that occurred as a result of the fires and the floods—and the floods just this March gone. If he had, he would understand the fear that people have right now about the current rain and what it might do, and the fear that they have of a second flood.

People feel that the Liberals are failing them right now. This is a Prime Minister who happily steps back from any responsibility. He is like your wilful teenage son who will deny he said or did something even when you can see the evidence on Instagram. He will not accept his part in things. He failed to give us the vaccines that we needed early and soon enough, and that has led to lockdowns across my electorate, across Western Sydney. He was responsible for the lockdowns that saw one part of Western Sydney treated so harshly and another part also in lockdown—our city divided. He failed to act in the interests of all the musicians, creatives and performers in my electorate when he decided that JobKeeper was not for them. He failed to act in the interests of university workers, staff, who either lecture and tutor or who work on the grounds or work in libraries. He failed them.

He's failed to act consistently in the interests of young people. He's doing as little as possible as late as possible to rein in climate change. He's put up the fees for students doing law, economics. communications, commerce and humanities. He has failed them. He's let TAFE be neglected, cutting $3 billion from vocational education funding and slashing the Education Investment Fund. He has done nothing to tackle the housing affordability issue that they face. He has failed to deliver a headspace for the Hawkesbury. These are all things young people need and care about.

And, at the other end, he has failed to act in the interests of people in aged care. Neglect—that sums up exactly what this government has done and continues to do. He is failing to act in the interests of people with disability who have a constant fear that the NDIS is going to be changed. When there are moves to change it, they're beaten but then, right behind, there is another move—just like waves crashing time after time onto the shore. That's how people with disabilities feel.

There are many other failures, but the thing with this Prime Minister is that he will never admit it. He will blame us. He will blame the states. He will blame anyone else rather than take responsibility.

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