Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There's no doubt that Australians are managing cost of living pressures, including pressures from energy prices. It's hard to see how they'll be assisted by the kind of carry-on that this debate represents. They suffered through nine years of a dishonest and incompetent government, and that incompetence was shown in the former government's carriage of energy policy as clearly as it was shown in any other area of their maladministration. Now Australians are suffering through 12 months of a dishonest, hopeless and, frankly, pointless opposition.

The member for Fairfax almost beat his chest and made a point of saying how they are all about small government. I think he was being a bit modest, because what we saw from those opposite over nine years was a lot more than small government. It could barely be described as minuscule government. It was very close to zero government, and in some cases I think probably even less than zero.

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