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

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has complained that voting for anybody but the Liberals in Wentworth will destabilise his government. But didn't this Prime Minister destabilise the government in the first place when he and his colleagues deposed Mr Turnbull? Isn't government instability the only reason we are having the Wentworth by-election? And will the Prime Minister explain to the people of Wentworth why Malcolm Turnbull is no longer the Prime Minister of Australia?

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

I know who the Australian people don't want to be Prime Minister: the leader of the Labor Party! They don't want him. They've had five years to have a good look at him and they've rendered their verdict on him when they make their judgement about who they think should be the Prime Minister of this country, who they think should be managing the economy of this country, who should be looking out for Australian families about their cost of living and who they can trust to get taxes down. That's what the Australian people are making their judgements about. They have made their judgement on this Leader of the Opposition and they know that after five years of looking at him hard and looking at everything he's said and at every flip flop he's ever made: he's for small business, he's against small business, he's for small business, he's against small business. And he wonders why the Australian people don't trust him and why small businesses, in particular, don't trust him.

I'll tell you why we're cutting taxes for small businesses, Mr Speaker. It's because those on this side of the House know that small and family businesses are the backbone of our economy. That's why we do it. We believe in it. We don't have to be dragged into it; we initiate it. We bring the bills into this parliament and we say that Australians deserve to keep more of what they earn.

Our government is committed to a strong economy—a strong economy that guarantees the essential services that Australians rely on, that keeps Australians safe and brings and keeps Australians together. In this Wentworth by-election, what I know people in Wentworth will be considering is: 'How do you keep the economy strong? How can you ensure that you have the certainty in this parliament to ensure that the policies that are going to continue to grow our economy can be passed and can be pursued?' They can't trust the Labor Party to do it. As a majority party in this parliament, a majority coalition, the Liberals, together with the Nationals, are bringing forward policies week after week that are driving our economy forward. We need to continue to do that as a majority government in this parliament. A vote for anyone other than Dave Sharma, the Liberal candidate in Wentworth, is a vote that would undermine that certainty and the strong economy that our government is delivering.