Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

It looks like we might be on a unity ticket here because, just as we start this debate, Mr Turnbull is outside calling for a leadership spill. As I understand it, Ms Bishop might be as well. So we may be on a unity ticket. It might be the only unity ticket that this failed Prime Minister would actually keep. It is great to be on a unity ticket with most of the Senate today.

Let us go through the reasons we are at this point and the reasons for this matter of public importance, because they are very important to remember as we talk about the Prime Minister's failed leadership. This has come about not just because he runs around eating raw onions; it is not just because he reintroduced knights and dames and that a knighthood went to Prince Philip; it is not just because he appointed Bronwyn Bishop as Speaker; it is not just because he hung on to a 'rolled gold' paid parental leave scheme, which he was forced to abandon before now launching attacks on the current scheme; and it is not just because the 'Prime Minister for women' has largely left women out of his cabinet. It is not just because of all that. It is because this Prime Minister has failed the community. He failed them when he made those promises during the election campaign in 2013. He promised not to cut health, not to cut education and not to make any changes whatsoever to the GST. It is because of these and many more promises that the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, made to the people of Australia that we have come to this position now. We have come here to talk about Mr Abbott's failed prime ministership and his failed leadership.

But Mr Abbott cannot be held solely responsible for all of these broken promises and the faith that he has broken in the community. Each and every one of those ministers in this government must be held accountable. That includes Mr Turnbull, who has failed to deliver on the NBN. The NBN has blown out, he has underdelivered, it has cost more and it has taken longer. We have a second-rate NBN, and Mr Turnbull has delivered it. The community want their government to work for them. They do not want a government that is only about itself. For so long, it appeared that the only thing Mr Abbott was concerned about was trying to ensure that blue ties were the order of the day.

This government and Mr Abbott have failed in relation to the Australian economy. They are failing to provide jobs. Confidence is down. The national accounts show economic growth of 0.2 per cent for the quarter and seasonally adjusted GDP growth of two per cent. The June quarter results were disappointing, and they came on the back of other poor figures. This is the biggest quarterly decline in living standards since the global financial crisis, and that is because we have had a Prime Minister who is now under attack by some of his own ministers when they have had a hand in what has been occurring in this country. They have had a hand in what has been occurring, but he is now under attack because of his failed leadership. Too often, it has been about the Prime Minister's own position; it has not been about Australian workers, it has not been about Australian families and it has not been about keeping faith with the Australian community. (Time expired)