Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For his first two weeks in the job the Prime Minister has spent half his time as Oscar the Grouch and the rest of the time as Fozzie Bear. Meanwhile, power bills have gone up and wages have gone down, and we have absolutely no hope that this mob over here have got any answers to the problems that real Australians are facing. We need an election now. We can't wait for the government to sort out its problems or for the Prime Minister to work out who he is.

But, if the Prime Minister must spend the next nine months manufacturing a new image for himself, here are a few tips. You can't go around saying you love all Australians and yet want to cut their penalty rates. You can't complain about power prices that have doubled under your watch and then dump the policy which will bring a reduction in prices and a reduction in emissions. If you're going to say that you are the best mate of coalminers, it is a good idea to have met a couple—and Gina Rinehart and Marius Kloppers don't count. If you want to say you need more women in parliament, then don't crab walk out of the room the first time one of your own women comes to you and asks for some support. If you are going say you are a lifelong Sharks supporter, you might want to iron the shop creases out of your favourite Sharks jumper. You can't say to Australians that you want them to pick a favourite AFL team and then come up with two. It's not like the Liberal Party leadership.