Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Corio. I've been working with the member for Corio for about the same period of time, so, using his logic, anything I say about him, or anything I say about the member for Grayndler, will also sound—I've been working the whole time with the member for Grayndler. What I can say is that the only time I've worked as the Deputy Prime Minister with the member for Cook as the Prime Minister is in this—and I can tell you what is different, because I've never worked with the Prime Minister on defending our nation till we've worked together now, something that's so vitally important.

I know those in the Greens-Labor opposition do not have a view to the defence of our nation like this Prime Minister has a view to the defence of our nation. I've worked with this Prime Minister as we've built dams. I know that, on the Greens-Labor opposition, you can't actually get the Greens across the line for the construction of infrastructure. I've worked with this Prime Minister as we've built the inland rail, and that's vitally important—something the Labor Party and the Greens never did. I've worked with this Prime Minister as we've dealt with one of the greatest pandemics of modern time, and during that period we had one of the greatest successes because we had one of the lowest fatality rates of anywhere in the globe. Our working relationship has made sure that we've kept this nation safe.

Working with this Prime Minister and the Treasurer, we now have unemployment down to 4.2 per cent. We have more Australians employed than, I believe, any time when the member for Grayndler has ever been in parliament in a Labor government. He's never had unemployment that low. We've got more Australians in work, as I work with this Prime Minister, than ever before. That is a pretty unique relationship, defending our nation, building for our nation and getting Australians into jobs. A million more women have work. I am only too happy to tell you of all the things, as I work with this Prime Minister. I believe that he is, quite obviously, the better choice at the next election to take Australia into a time where we have so many geopolitical issues that we need a competent hand at the tiller. We need a competent hand to be able to guide this nation through something that will be an incredibly complex time. So, yes, I absolutely stand by this person. This is a great Prime Minister, doing a great job. (Time expired)

See this speech in context