Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday in the parliament we witnessed some extraordinary scenes when the Prime Minister and her cabinet walked out of the chamber at the very beginning of question time. It is unfathomable, given that from the Prime Minister’s comments earlier on about the new paradigm of the parliament to let the sun shine in and a more transparent process. Over the last couple of weeks people travelled from all around Australia in convoys to merge at Canberra to have their voices heard. They came to Canberra because they were angry. They came to Canberra because they believed that they had been lied to and they believed that the government was no longer listening to what they had to say. They wanted to voice their frustration, their anger and their opinion of feeling abandoned by this government. They came from all around the country, including my electorate of Wright, at considerable personal expense to voice frustration. These people are not political activists. These people are not the people that you would see in a union rally. They were not paid to do this. They are not contracted to attend marches or rallies. These people got out of their normal routine and made the trip down here because they wanted to make a statement to let the government know that they were furious. Many of them had never been to Canberra before. Most of them certainly had never been to a protest before, but they felt strongly enough about this government’s performance that they wanted to come and have their voices heard.

I have three stories from my electorate. One bloke who came down could not afford to put new tyres on his trucks to get here. That is how tough his business is doing, but he put tyres on his credit card so he could make the journey. Another couple that were frustrated with the government’s performance were a dairy farmer and his wife who paid some people to go in and do their milking for them so that they could come down here, again, frustrated with the trajectory of where this nation was heading. Another bloke, a larger transport operator, was concerned with the increasing regulatory and cost inhibitors of his business, in particular registration fees—and I acknowledge that is a state matter.

How did the government react? It ignored them. In fact, not only did it ignore them; it ridiculed them. The Prime Minister and the ministers refused to meet with these people and openly insulted them. Of course they are angry and hostile. They feel betrayed because we have a Prime Minister who first said, ‘I will no more challenge for the leadership than be a full forward for the Dogs’, ‘There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead’ and, the clanger of all clangers, ‘Nine out of 10 families will be better off under a carbon tax.’ (Time expired)