Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What do the government stand for? I have to ask that question. What do the government stand for? They have junked four energy policies in two years. Today we saw a another surrender: they reversed their decision on the energy supplement and they've supposedly reversed their decision on company tax cuts. Their one policy from the 2016 election is supposedly gone. Why? It's because they will do everything they can to stay in power. They will junk every policy they have to stay in power.

This is an attitude that pervades the entire coalition government. You see it in the actions of the ministers for health and trade—those lions who voted for the member for Dickson in the party room but didn't have the courage, the intestinal fortitude, to resign or even own up to it. I will say this about the former Minister for International Development and the Pacific: at least she had the guts to go to the back bench, unlike the ministers for trade and health, who didn't have the guts to go to the back bench with their little mate the member for Dickson.

The truth is that the government stand for one thing: keeping Labor out of power, because they know that our positive policies will improve the lives of every Australian. The sooner they call an election and get out of the way, instead of their desperate attempt to hold onto power, the better for the Australian people.