Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, Senator O'Sullivan. Anyway, you did well in New York by the sound of it. The courage that I want to talk about is the courage of conviction. I think that that is what the matter of public importance is about today:

The Turnbull government's lack of courage on matters of importance to everyday Australians.

That is the courage of our convictions. Someone told me, 'The art of politics is achieving what is possible.' I suppose that that is probably correct, but most of us in this place have convictions. Most of us have the courage of our convictions and we will not easily be dissuaded from that conviction.

However, if you knew nothing about the Prime Minister, the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, and you googled him, you would find out that he was the leader of the Australian Republican Movement for seven years. I imagine that in seven years you would have an irrevocable conviction that there should be an Australian republic and that if you ever got in a position where you could actually influence that outcome—that is, being the Prime Minister—you would probably not walk away from that conviction. But it appears as if the current Prime Minister has walked away from his conviction that Australia should be a republic. He has not been at the forefront of that debate. He has not initiated any initiatives that would bring that closer, despite the fact for seven years he was the leader and was publicly out and about seeking an Australian republic.

If you wikipediaed 'the honourable Prime Minister Turnbull' you would probably come up with a whole lot of stuff on climate change. Climate change was in his DNA until it threatened his opportunity to occupy the Lodge. It was there. He was on the front foot. He was leading with conviction, until two things happened. The first thing was that he was done in as opposition leader and the second thing was that he was able to get the Lodge. It would appear that the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull does not have the courage of his convictions in respect to two very important matters that you cannot move around Australia without talking to everyday voters about. Climate change and the Australian republic are well worn paths. People in the street want to know where you stand on those two issues. You could have been mistaken for thinking you knew where the honourable Prime Minister Turnbull stood with conviction on climate change and the republic. However, he has been able to walk away from that conviction.

The other issue which is gaining some publicity is marriage equality. Before he became Prime Minister, he was out there advocating one position, but as soon as he became Prime Minister he adopted the Hon. Tony Abbott's position. So on three quite easily distinguishable, recognisable policies he has not had the courage of his convictions.

I will put on the record a quote from the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull on Meet the Press on 4 October 2009:

I mean, Tony thought he was going to go to an election and he'd be saying "great big tax" and Kevin Rudd would be saying "save the planet" but instead Rudd just walked away from it and looked like a man who believed in nothing and his support - as Rudd himself confesses and Howard said - his support just fell off a cliff, because people, Kerry, in politics, the public, will forgive you for a certain amount of incompetence. You don't want to stretch their patience on that. But they will never forgive you if you are seen to believe in nothing.

  …   …   …

Because if you believe in nothing why are you there?

So if he has abandoned his convictions on these three basic items, why is it not abundantly apparent to all that he has traded his convictions for the job? If you want to have a look at convictions, start with the alphabet: Abbott, Abetz, Andrews, go on to Bernardi. They never lack the courage of their convictions; their positions are always out there. I do not agree with them, but at least you can hear and understand them. (Time expired)