Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

May we say, 'Australians all let us rejoice,' but I'm sure the response from people all around the country is going to be, 'Must we really rejoice?' We have had eight years of tired, dysfunctional government with no plan for the future, a track record of the lowest productivity growth in 50 years and no plan on climate and energy. What have we had? As Senator Watt said, we've had Abbott and Truss, we've had Turnbull and Truss, we've had Turnbull and Joyce, we've had Turnbull and McCormack, we've had Morrison and McCormack, and now we're back to Morrison and Joyce. It has been eight long years of tired, ineffective government entirely focused on itself. This government has become much worse under the current Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, with its tendency for secrecy, its obsession with marketing, its requirement for spin at all costs and its capacity for deflection. When the country needed something more, when the country needed leadership to fix this tired old mess of a government, who did the National Party turn to when we really needed to focus on the interests of regional Australians? They've given us poor old Mr Joyce. Why isn't there anybody from the National Party here in the Senate defending Mr Joyce? Why isn't there anybody in the National Party on their feet in this debate? I'll tell you why: because they're all on the telephone, only interested in their own jobs. Where's Senator McKenzie? She's lobbying to make sure she gets a job out of this. Where are the other National Party senators? They're in corridor meetings trying to make sure they squeeze something out of this tired, incompetent government regarding jobs for themselves, the only jobs they're interested in.

Poor old Mr Joyce. As a backbencher, he was still putting out Christmas videos. At Christmas time in 2019, he did this deranged beetroot-faced video from some paddock out the back of Walcha. In the video, he said: 'Look, I just don't want the government any more in my life. I'm sick of the government being in my life.' Well, not anymore. He's going to get plenty of the government in his life. He's going to get plenty of it. He's looking forward to the big salary, he's looking forward to the ministerial cars, he's looking forward to lots of staff and he's looking forward to throwing his weight around all the corridors of Canberra. But, I will tell you what, the people who miss out—as always—will be the people of regional Australia. Poor old Darren Chester, first to get the job—