Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday, when asked why Malcolm Turnbull wasn't the Prime Minister of Australia, the new Prime Minister said how he had got the job and he spent the rest of the time saying how great the Turnbull government was. If Malcolm Turnbull was so great, as the Prime Minister claimed in question time yesterday, why is he no longer the Prime Minister of Australia?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The party room made the decision and I stepped up, and I'm stepping up for all Australians. What I don't understand is that we come into this chamber today and the Leader of the Opposition hasn't come in here and asked me about the drought; he hasn't come in here and asked me about lowering electricity prices; he hasn't come in here and asked me about taxes; he hasn't asked me about why we don't want to support their policies which would see taxes increase or why we don't want to support the Labor policies which would put more pressure on small businesses and put burdening taxes on retirees, with the most despicable of all their taxes: a $5 billion-a-year slug on retirees, pensioners and small business owners. And they say it doesn't apply to pensioners. You don't know how to design a tax policy, because, if you have a self-managed superannuation fund and you're a pensioner, you get hit by the tax. The Labor Party come into this place and they will not share our priorities when it comes to lower taxes, lower unemployment, backing small business to create more jobs and ensuring the strong economy that we need to deliver the essential services that Australians rely on. We have a plan for a stronger economy, we have a plan for a safer Australia and we have a plan to bring Australians together to focus on the challenges of the future.