Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

They did. It's a wonder the member for Fairfax makes it to the chamber with the fluoride in the water these days and the chemtrails that prevent him from achieving his full potential. He comes in here with ridiculous assertions. After a decade of being in government they achieved nothing—and the problem was not so much the inertia but that they took Australia backwards, particularly in comparison to the rest of the world. They have hampered the ability of both households and industries to compete in international markets.

Of course he harked back to his days in the family bakery, but ultimately what is clear about the member for Fairfax and, indeed, all Liberal members opposite is that they have no real understanding of Australian families and businesses. We're not silly just because we're working people. We know what you guys did. We know that you let us down. We know that you failed to deliver a single sustainable energy policy in a decade. We know that you were too busy fighting amongst yourselves and turning over prime ministers. You didn't get anywhere. You let us down. Now we're playing catch-up. We're playing catch-up on prices. We're playing catch-up on building renewable energy infrastructure that serves our purposes now and into the future.

The member for Fairfax over there smiles. Mate, you're all sour and no dough. There is very little substance that gives anyone any confidence that you have the capability to serve in opposition, let alone in government. Maybe he's channelling his leader, the Leader of the Opposition, who went to the APPEA conference—and I'm not going to adjudicate on the pronunciation of APPEA; I'll leave that to others—and said, 'Just like Reagan, we will wind back government intervention.' They're going to wind back government intervention just like Reagan. I'm not surprised that the Leader of the Opposition wants to compare himself to fine American presidents and Ronald Reagan is the one he chose. Ronald Reagan was not my cup of tea from a political perspective, but he was handsome, erudite and remarkably popular. I think the Leader of the Opposition probably picked someone out of his league though.

The member for Herbert was here earlier, and it gave me cause to think, 'Who is that American statesman that the Leader of the Opposition most resembles?' I think it might be former president Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover was the president at the beginning of the great recession, and through it. He is widely considered to have been a failed president—failed his nation; failed his country. He exacerbated the impacts of the recession upon the people, particularly the working people of the United States. In fact, one historical source notes about his presidency:

Hoover's rigid adherence to conservative principles may not have been his greatest problem. A poor communicator, he came across as mean-spirited and uncaring.

That is a much better historical point for the Leader of the Opposition to compare himself to. He should drop the attempt at Reaganism, and he should think a little bit more about Herbert Hoover and what Herbert Hoover can do for him.

The very sad thing about Herbert Hoover is that part of his presidency was defined by his scapegoating of Mexican Americans, employing racism to defend himself and detract from his own economic and social failures during the Depression. (Time expired)

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