Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I'm happy to do so again. As I've said, Minister Taylor has made comments in the other place. Senators Cormann and Birmingham have made comments in this place. I agree with what Senator Cormann and Senator Birmingham have said and I would refer the Senate to those comments.

As I was saying in relation to those opposite—in particular to their loss at the last federal election—it is interesting to see seats like Hunter, where Labor had an almost 10 per cent swing. Their assault on the coal industry was really interesting. As I was standing on polling booths for the state election, people came up to me whingeing about the Labor Party—and that is supposed to be their heartland. It is supposed to be a centre where the coal industry is so important, and people voted against them because of their assault on the coal industry.

Of course, there was the issue of religious freedom, which manifested itself also through the Folau sacking. The quiet Australians—that silent majority—rejected their policies, and they have to accept that. They have to accept that they lost the election. So no amount of muckraking or mudslinging is actually going to detract from that fact, that the Australian public rejected their policies. They elected us. They didn't want a return to the fiscal vandalism that we had for six years in this country when they were on the treasury bench. You, Senator Wong, in particular, as the finance minister gave us fiscal vandalism. (Time expired)