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

A well-known tale of a man who, consumed by ambition, murders his king to take the throne for himself infamously culminates with the protagonist lamenting:

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

And so it is with the tale of the protagonist of this place, Prime Minister 'MacTurnbull'. While we have heard many lengthy soliloquies from the Prime Minister—and the knives of vengeance pile more bloodied bodies of betrayed ministers on the backbench by the day—all the sound and fury signifies nothing: no change from the Abbott government's marriage equality policy; no change from the Abbott government's climate change policy; no change from the Abbott government's $80 billion cuts to schools and hospitals; no change from the Abbott government's desire to roll out $100,000 university degrees; and, of course, the same baseless scare campaigns and lack of economic leadership. As we enter the final act of this tale of betrayal, in service of nothing more than personal ambition, we see that the talented member for Wentworth knifed the previous Prime Minister only to become him. He looks to the backbench and he knows that something wicked this way comes. Banquo's ghost lurks, cavorting with The Australian. And we all know how this play ends. There are already bodies piling up on the backbench. We will see more before this play is out.