Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We know how this Prime Minister came to be Prime Minister: she did so by knifing Mr Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister at the time. Mr Kevin Rudd was democratically elected—he was there—and, all of a sudden, there was a plot and a scheme and he was taken out by the faceless men in the dark of night. We know that is happening again. While Senator Polley made an impassioned plea to defend the Prime Minister and her track record, the evidence says something quite different. This Prime Minister's track record has been one of disingenuousness. It has been one of 'the real Julia' and 'the fake Julia'—and I am just quoting the words there; I am not referring to her improperly. That was how it was characterised during her last election campaign. We have never known who the real Prime Minister is. Is it because she is as tough as nails, determined or committed? Is it because she just does not tell the truth? These are the questions that the Australian people are asking themselves.

This is the lady, remember, who was the architect of the border protection farce that we now see. This is the lady who put forward Medicare Gold and went in to bat for Mark Latham. This is a lady whose error of judgement is so grievous that it has disrupted and hurt the Australian economy, it has discredited us internationally and it has the Australian people waiting for an election because they are desperate to see some adults and a responsible government back in charge of this country.

This motion is about governing. It is not about personalities. It is not about playing victim politics, finding and isolating men in blue ties. It is not about playing the victim and saying: 'Woe is me. You're picking on me because I'm a woman,' or 'because I'm tall', 'because I'm short', 'because I'm heavy' or anything else. This is about competency, and the government will be assessed on their competency—or their incompetency, I should say, including that of the Prime Minister. They cannot hide behind claims of misogyny. If the Prime Minister and her coterie were competent and had delivered policies, then we would have very little complaint. But they have not done that.

Need I remind this chamber and the schoolchildren in the gallery that this Prime Minister's office was responsible for sparking a race riot on Australia Day of last year, where they pitted Aboriginal Australians against, and sent them to protest and endanger not only the Leader of the Opposition but also the Prime Minister's own welfare? Have we ever seen such a reprehensible action sanctioned by a prime minister's office? I would suggest no; it was a new low point in the history of government in this country. I could go on, but the fact is that the policy decisions of this government suggest that we have not been governed appropriately.

With the Prime Minister's political assassination being plotted as retribution for her own engagement in such an act, it reminded me of another politician. A Roman philosopher and statesman, he was a lawyer, an orator, a political theorist, a consul and constitutionalist. I am of course talking about Marcus T Cicero. In commenting to his friend and colleague about government, he said, and I paraphrase, that the budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled. They are wise words from ancient Rome. If you use those as the measuring stick for good government, this government has failed again and again, because in the six years of this government, six long and torturous years, we are yet to see a budget balanced. We had a country which had no net debt. It had money in the bank and investments for the future. We have now seen our national credit card limit run up to nearly $300 billion. That is $300 billion that we will be forced to repay—probably not me but my children and maybe even my children's children. That is the great tragedy: we now have intergenerational debt as a result of the spendthrift policies of this government.

We do need to refill our treasury, because if we do not, as the demographics change in this country, the fewer workers we will have and we will be forced to pay ever more tax to support this bloated and growing government. So we have to reduce our public debt. In order to do that, we have to reduce, as Cicero said, the arrogance of officialdom. We have to temper it and control it, because it is the arrogance of the Labor Party and their ilk that makes them say they know what is good for the country better than individuals do: 'Give us your money; we'll take it from you and we'll then determine what is good for you.' That is no way in which to govern a nation. The government of the day should have confidence in the decisions of the people. Unfortunately, one of the great travesties we have is that this government does not think that the Australian people are good enough to make their own determinations. We have seen it in any number of ways. Where they have tried to shape social policy, they have played one group of Australians against another, whether it be based on race, gender or ethnicity. This is a government that is simply trying to reinstate a class war. It is of no credit to Senator Polley, absolutely no credit, that she talked about the opposition being the party of billionaires—

An opposition senator: And class warfare.

And class warfare. It is extraordinary that someone like Senator Polley refuses to recognise the amazing contribution that wealthy people, who fund industry and provide the capital for it, have made to this country. There are hundreds and thousands of jobs that are provided, there are billions of dollars worth of taxes provided—yet somehow that is unfair. It is an amazing admission, showing that they have very little else to cling to.

I understand that Senator Polley, being from Tasmania, may feel deeply uncomfortable with the wealth of Western Australia, the potential of South Australia or what is happening in Queensland, but the point is that Tasmania can thrive and prosper only if the rest of the nation does. What we need to do is work cooperatively with the federation, not to set one Australian against another, not to set government against government, and for Labor not to mislead and cajole, with this false bonhomie, out of some sort of loyalty to a failed and continuing-to-fail Prime Minister. That is what the Australian people are demanding. I think the greatest disappointment to the Australian people is that this government has not taken them into its confidence. This government has diminished parliamentary and political credibility to new levels.

The fact that Senator Polley comes in here and defends the actions, the incompetence, the deceptiveness, the disingenuousness of the Prime Minister, who has lowered our reputation at home and abroad, is quite extraordinary. It is very disappointing for the people of Australia to have to listen to a defence when it is quite simply indefensible. This country is not on the right track. When you speak to people out in the community, they do not feel the country is doing well. They do not feel comfortable in their own lives. They worry about what next this government is going to do. They are desperate for an election so that they can render their verdict on the Prime Minister who Senator Polley has just so steadfastly defended. I find it extraordinary that we have come to this level where someone of Ms Gillard's stature is running the nation into the ground, yet the Australian people are prevented from having their say until the very last minute when the faceless men have determined who will be running the country.