Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to ask an important question: where is the Prime Minister Australia voted for? Where has that man gone? He does not resemble anything he used to stand for, and yesterday and today have been a wonderful expression of that. This is now the fifth year the country has been waiting for good government, and what do we get? We get an adviser apparently saying, 'PM, the rabble are criticising your NBN,' and the PM's response is, 'Call the cops.' 'PM, the rabble want to protect Medicare.' Response: 'Call the cops.' Most recently it was, 'PM, the rabble want renewable energy and cheaper energy.' The PM responds, 'Call the cops and the media. Make sure everybody knows.'

What Australia wants, what Australia needs, is not the man masquerading as our Prime Minister. What Australia needs is a proactive government, a proactive government that is committed to a fair and civil society. And 'a fair and civil society' means that unions can bargain collectively for workers. It means that people are free to advocate for other people in our community and it means that we have community legal centres. That's the Australia that Australians want to see. (Time expired)