Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Please do not encourage me to rush to the part of my speech which talks about the parlous state of Labor Party finances. Would you like me to rush to that part of my speech now or are you happy to hear what the former minister for health had to say about the performance of the former Prime Minister and indeed the government? I am quoting from the John Button memorial address of 16 October 2013:

Kevin had a fatal attraction to everyone else's problems. He never saw a problem that he didn't believe he should try and fix.

She went on to say:

[Kevin] also had an overwhelming inclination to focus on minutiae as a way of avoiding the big, harder decisions.

So the Labor opposition would like to come to this place to talk about the spectre of possible health and education cuts when in actual fact their government was dysfunctional and full of waste.

Honourable senators interjecting—