Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given the evidence that his key supporters conspired to depose Malcolm Turnbull, how can the Prime Minister stand by his statement to the House: 'I came to this position of leadership not seeking it in support of the previous Prime Minister'?

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

I absolutely stand by my comments in this House, and I'm not going to take a lecture from a Leader of the Labor Party who cut down two Prime Ministers. One was here yesterday; the other one was here today. He cut down two. There's no dispute about that. I've supported Prime Ministers in this place. That's my record. What I have noticed about the Labor Party today as they have obsessed about politics and what we see in their smirks, in their sneers, in their jeers and in the swagger that we also see from militant unions is a cockiness that has crept into this Leader of the Labor Party—an arrogance and a smarminess which has crept into this Leader of the Labor Party.

This Leader of the Labor Party thinks he's already there. They all think they're already there, from the weeping member for Rankin to all of them here. They know that they should not be treating the Australian people with such contempt in the way they behave in this place with their sneering, their jeering and their swaggering. You know what happens when the Labor Party get more cocky? The unions get more cocky. The cockier the Labor Party get, the cockier the unions get, and that's what we're seeing on the streets of Melbourne today. That's what we'll see around the country if this Leader of the Labor Party gets to run this country like a union like he said he would.

Our government is about ensuring a stronger economy and an even stronger Australia that can guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on. What we're focused on is lower electricity prices. What we're focused on is lower taxes, and we're delivering lower taxes. We're backing small and family businesses. That's our record. We're focused on issues like the drought, and this Friday we're coming together as a nation to ensure that we are focused on a coordinated response to the drought and to ensure that we don't just provide the relief—that we provide the recovery and we provide the resilience for the future. That's what our government is focused on. This cocky, swaggering Leader of the Labor Party thinks he's already got his hands on the prize, and that's all he's ever wanted.