Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly. That's right. It's certainly not power that powers our manufacturing sector, powers our homes. That is not the focus of the Treasurer. Chapter 3 is 'Leading Labor'—that's a keen interest of the Treasurer, and I'm sure that was a keen interest of the Treasurer in his 6,000-word essay. There is a subchapter titled 'Factions'. When the Treasurer is thinking about factions in the Labor Party and he pens a 6,000-word essay, what buzzwords is he including that he knows will go down well within certain sections of the people sitting behind him? We know what they are. No-one loves neoliberalism, so of course he sticks the boot into neoliberalism. He doesn't define it, but he sticks the boot in, because he knows that goes down well with the people sitting behind him. He talks about the Washington consensus and how that's been a terrible, terrible thing for this nation. When you go through all of this thesis, there is nothing in there about economics.

That brings us to this bill, the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2022. I again refer to the defence industry minister. When you came in here and linked this bill to our national security objectives, to AUKUS, that wasn't a statesman move; that was a brawler move. You came in here with your brawler hat on. That's a choice you made. You can choose to be a statesman and you can choose to be a brawler—I've seen you do both. We commend you when you're a statesman, but you came in as a brawler. It's a new low, because AUKUS should be above politics. Those who sit on the other side are of that view. There was bipartisan combined trip to Washington to reinforce AUKUS because it's an important thing for our nation, and we commend you for that. But then you come in here, take your statesman hat off and put your brawler hard hat on.

When you promise bipartisanship on AUKUS—

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