Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I have been able to portray a seamless transition of incompetence, waste and deceit—from Mr Rudd to Ms Gillard. It begs the question as to why they changed leaders. We were told they changed leaders because the government had lost its way. You betcha they had; they had lost their way. But now, with Ms Gillard, not only have they lost their way, they have thrown away their moral compass and they have thrown away their policy map. In the words of Mr Graham Richardson, 'whatever it takes' is what the Australian Labor Party will do. They will betray the working families, the people they used shamelessly in their slogans.

Government senators interjecting—

This is a government which promised to look after the working families in Australia. They said they would look after the little people, but the mining tax they boast about was a dirty deal struck behind closed doors. Out of the 3,000 mining companies in Australia, with how many did they negotiate? Three—the three biggest. This is big government, big business and big unions and working families and small businesses can go jump.