Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ETT () (): As the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide kicks off in Brisbane, I want to mention three concepts that should be embraced by all elected representatives in this place: service, sacrifice, and honour. I do so not to conflate a politician's privileged life with the challenges our soldiers, sailors and airmen face but to revisit why we are here. Last week, the Prime Minister disingenuously stood right there at the dispatch box and suggested that serving the people of Australia in here is somehow touched with dishonour. A bloke who's halfway through his second decade in here attacked the Leader of the Opposition for serving here longer. The Prime Minister said in a tone dripping with condescension:

The Leader of the Opposition has been in this place a very long time. The Leader of the Opposition is obsessed with the games that go on in Canberra.

The main game that goes on in Canberra is government. That is why the Prime Minister's bank account will go up tomorrow. He will get paid. When the Prime Minister besmirches the service of one of us, he chips away at the foundations of Australian democracy.

The Leader of the Opposition knows something about service. His family knows he's sacrificed time with them to serve as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, and so on. The Leader of the Opposition has served in this House with honour. He stands behind his words. My leader is more than just an announcement. The Leader of the Opposition actually believes in making this country fairer for all Australians. We can all do better, but there's little honour emanating from the bloke who says, 'I don't hold a hose, mate.'