Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

This is someone who we thought could not be more divisive than the former prime minister, whom he replaced as the leader of the Liberal Party, but of course the Leader of the Opposition is managing it. He is the same person who, as he mentioned, when the former prime minister Kevin Rudd stood at this despatch box and gave the apology to stolen generations—it was a proud moment to be in this parliament. The then leader of the Liberal Party, Brendan Nelson, had the courage of his conviction to do the right thing and stand at this despatch box as well to make sure that it was a matter of national unity. Around the country, schoolchildren gathered in front of television screens to celebrate that moment to advance reconciliation, that moment to lift up our nation. And the Leader of the Opposition not only opposed it but also threatened to resign from the frontbench over it and walked out on that event. So terrible was it that in that moment of national unity there were only a few people who were so determined to sow division that they just couldn't cop the concept of saying sorry for the wrong thing being done, for children being stolen from mothers, fathers, grandparents, families and communities. They could not stomach it.

We have heard from the Leader of the Opposition a range of comments, most of which were not about what is before the Australian people. He spoke about my speech to Garma last year, and I'm proud of it. I'll be proud of the speech that I give at Garma this weekend. There was a time when the leaders of both parties went to Garma, and those opposite now have a situation whereby not a single frontbench member from the coalition is attending this event. Today, on his weekly tough interrogation from Ray Hadley on 2GB, he went on to say that he wasn't going to attend because it was all about a 'left fest'. Well, the Yothu Yindi Foundation hosts that event, and the Leader of the Opposition was happy to go to the funeral of Yunupingu and to state the important work that that great Australian contributed to this nation.

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