Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's good to see that Senator Macdonald has still not gotten over being dumped as a minister all those years ago and is still obsessed with people on this side of the chamber getting promotions. I do feel for you, Senator Macdonald. You never know—you're going to be around for a few more months, or maybe weeks—you might get looked after. There's going to be a reshuffle now that Peter Dutton has stood down. We know other ministers are probably going to have to stand down. Finally, your talents might be recognised by your party and you might rise to the lofty heights of assistant minister for something quite irrelevant.

Again today, on display here in Canberra, we've seen what an utter shambles the Turnbull LNP government has become. The Longman by-election was only a small number of weeks ago, but ever since that night this government has been absolutely falling apart. I was very pleased to be at the Longman election night party with a number of my colleagues when we pulled home a great win—and, again, congratulations to Susan Lamb and all of her team for winning that by-election. You could actually feel the temperature change; you could feel the atmosphere change in Australian politics that night when, after months of pressure on our side of the politics, we actually came through. The people of Longman were good enough to return Susan Lamb as the member for that electorate, and all of a sudden the pressure was back on the government, having lost the by-elections. And have they not coped! Haven't they fallen apart ever since that by-election loss that night! They were immediately at each other's throats and immediately worrying about their primary vote falling below 30 per cent. Then it spilled into their policies about energy. Then it spilled into who should be their leader. Ever since that night they have not been able to hold a single policy together or stand together on any matter whatsoever.

We saw it reflected again here today in question time, when Senator Fierravanti-Wells was unable and unwilling to say who she had voted for in this morning's leadership ballot. She was given an opportunity to assure the Senate that she had stuck by her Prime Minister and voted for Mr Turnbull in that leadership ballot, but she refused to take that opportunity and refused to say who she voted for. We can only assume that she was one of the 35 people who voted for Mr Dutton, and I expect that before too long we should see her resignation as a minister if she so lacks confidence in Mr Turnbull. She was so unwilling to back Mr Turnbull as the leader of the Liberal Party that, when asked what the point of Mr Turnbull was, not only could she not give us one example of anything that Mr Turnbull has done as Prime Minister but she couldn't even begin to use his name, could not let the words 'Malcolm Turnbull' cross her lips. That's how far she wanted to be removed from this dying and mortally wounded Prime Minister.

We then moved to Senator McKenzie, the Deputy Leader of the National Party, who was asked about reports from her own side of politics that the health minister, Mr Hunt, had not only voted for Mr Dutton but was also planning to stand for Deputy Prime Minister as his running mate. This is the Mr Hunt who not that long ago was swearing at and scaring older women who hold elected positions in the Northern Territory. She wouldn't take the opportunity to say where Mr Hunt lined up. More importantly, as the Deputy Leader of the National Party, she would not reveal whether the National Party stands behind the Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, at this point in time. We know that Mr Turnbull has only barely hung on as the Leader of the Liberal Party, and we're starting to find out from comments by Senator McKenzie and in the media today by the member for Capricornia, Michelle Landry, that they want to see a leadership change as well.

Unfortunately all of this shows that the Liberal and National Party members of parliament in this place have completely forgotten why they are here: to work hard for people back in their electorates and home states. They have become so desperate to hang on to their own jobs that 35 members of the parliamentary Liberal Party today voted for Mr Dutton—a man who has been voted the worst health minister in Australia's history, who cut hospital and dental funding and tried to introduce a GP tax—to become their new leader. This is the best person this party has to offer as an alternative to Malcolm Turnbull as their leader.

Fortunately, back in Queensland there is one candidate focused on the real issues facing Dickson. Her name is Ali France. She is already out there knocking on doors to win back the seat and provide people with the representation they deserve. (Time expired)