Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the inability of the Prime Minister to lead a united government, to show that he is the Prime Minister of the 21st century and that he would lead a government that is agile and innovative, he has failed on all of those things. Very, very mediocre—that is what I would say. Under his watch, we have seen the second-rate NBN rolled out in this country. We have also seen underfunding of the education sector in this country. We have also had to endure cuts to family payments, which will leave so many Australians worse off—very mediocre. When I said they did not have a strategy for the future, one strategy they do have, because it is in their DNA, is to undermine Medicare. Through you, Mr President, Senator Bushby should hang his head in shame, when he knows that Tasmanians are putting off going to the doctor because they cannot afford the increases that his government has brought in.

We also know that down in their bottom drawer they still have their plan to charge young Australians $100,000 to get a university degree—we know that to be a fact. As I said before, we have a Prime Minister who promised so much but has delivered nothing at all. The Leader of the Government in the Senate attacks his own Queensland colleagues for being very, very mediocre. I think this government will be recorded in history very, very well, and when people look back on this government they will say that they were indeed very, very mediocre.

We would really encourage the Prime Minister to break out of the shackles that the right wing of his caucus has on him and to show the leadership he promised during the election campaign. Quite frankly, what he is doing now as the Prime Minister of this country is presiding over a government that is very, very bad indeed. 'Mediocre' does not really cover how bad they are, because they just keep stuffing things up day after day. We need a strong leader— (Time expired)