David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It has been an 11-year hibernation for the federal opposition. They want to talk about clean coal; where is the policy? They want to talk about greenhouse gas; where is the policy? They have been doing nothing. And when you have done nothing there is only one thing you can do when you are as desperate as this opposition are to get into power: run a scare campaign. How do you run a scare campaign? What is the best ingredient when you have been caught without policy on an issue that has developed in the community? You start to talk about who is going to have a nuclear reactor in their backyard: ‘There is no policy, but let’s run a scare campaign so that we’re at least looking busy. We’ve done nothing but we can look busy. We can take the easy road.’