Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister recall that, in the last 24 hours, his government’s backbench has described him as ‘the greatest Prime Minister Australia has ever had’, the Prime Minister has described the Treasurer as ‘the greatest Treasurer Australia has ever had’, and the Treasurer has described the government as ‘the greatest environmental government that Australia has ever had’? Prime Minister, is there any claim to greatness that the government has yet to thrust upon itself? And is this why the Prime Minister maintains his claim that Australians have never been better off?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister has the call and the Prime Minister will be heard.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think there is one claim to greatness that I would not make of myself or any of my colleagues, but it is a label I will place upon the Leader of the Opposition, and that is that, of all the leaders of the Australian Labor Party I have faced—and I think he is the sixth leader of the Australian Labor Party I have faced—he is the greatest contortionist. What he has been able simultaneously to do is to wrap his arms around policies that he has spent all of his time in parliament opposing. It is a pretty energetic and great achievement of political contortion to say that there is not a sliver of difference between the economic policies of the government and the economic policies of the Australian Labor Party when you opposed taxation reform, you opposed paying off $96 billion of debt, you opposed industrial relations reform, you opposed the privatisation of Telstra, you opposed putting the budget back into surplus—and so the list has gone on. And yet now the Leader of the Opposition would have the Australian public believe that the launching pad for his assault on the government of this country is the very policies that he spent all of his waking hours in opposing. So, if we are handing out descriptions of ‘greatest’, he has to be the greatest political contortionist I have faced in the office of Leader of the Opposition.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members are holding up their question time.