James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

You'll hear from your community in four weeks time. Your communities will tell you what they think of your proposal. You'll find out, and when we're back together I look forward to talking about what your communities have said to you and what my community has said to me about this proposal. I'm not frightened of the people of this country. I hold no fear of the voters of my electorate, and you should take the message from the voters of your electorate—what they've got to say about the proposition that you're putting forward. You're going to find out, and I look forward to being back here and talking about that.

We could have made this a moment of national unity. Regardless of the result—and the result is looking pretty clear—what we are going to have is a divided nation because of this debate that the Prime Minister has put to the Australian people. That is on the Prime Minister's head. The people that will hold him to account for that will not be just the people in this chamber. It will the people of this country, because they will send a very clear message, and we will all get that message. It will be unambiguous and unequivocal. That message will need to be reflected on very deeply by the Prime Minister.

When David Cameron put a vote to the people of the United Kingdom about leaving the European Union, he went out and campaigned on it, and said, 'We need to stay in the European Union.' He put his judgement and his view to the people of the United Kingdom. When they rejected it, he resigned the next morning. That was something of dignity—to put such a totemic proposition forward. It would be an act of absolute cowardice for the Prime Minister to put such a divisive proposition to the people of this country, to divide us like never before, have that proposition rejected and continue on as Prime Minister of the nation, with the people having given him that verdict. He should reflect on that. It wouldn't be good for the interests of the referendum to put the Prime Minister's future on the line, because that will only increase the 'no' vote. But he should reflect very carefully on what he does. If he has taken his proposal, his model and his timing to the people—and made sure that it was a divisive question—and if the people don't support his position but reject it, he should do the honourable and dignified thing and resign as Prime Minister of Australia.

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