Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday Australians witnessed the triumph of ego and ambition over long-held personal principle and political values. In 2009, the member for Wentworth indicated, 'I will not lead a party that is not as committed to effective action on climate change as I am.' In that same year, in a scathing description of the Liberal Party's climate change policies, he stated:

The whole argument for an emissions trading scheme as opposed to cutting emissions via a carbon tax or simply by regulation is that it is cheaper … Now politics is about conviction and a commitment to carry out those convictions … there is a major issue of integrity at stake here and Liberals should reflect very deeply on it … Many Liberals are rightly dismayed that on this vital issue of climate change we are not simply without a policy, without any prospect of having a credible policy but we are now without integrity. We have given our opponents the irrefutable, undeniable evidence that we cannot be trusted.

Yet last night all of this was thrown overboard in the name of ego and ambition. Last night the new Prime Minister came into this building and said that he stands for freedom but not for the pursuit of an Australian republic. He says that he stands for the individual, but not if you are a gay Australian wanting to get married. He says that he stands for the market, but not if you are responding to climate change.

The public face of the Turnbull-Abbott-Turnbull Liberal Party may have changed, but the reality is that the extreme and out-of-touch party behind it remains. The only way to change this government is to change it at the next election.