Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I for one, Senator Hughes, love New South Wales and Sydney—the harbour and everything else that comes with it—and, I must say, I am a little bit offended by your very weird comments on curry. Having served in the New South Wales parliament for five years, I can tell you that I have had my fair share of disagreements with Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the New South Wales Liberals, but I have to say on this very rare occasion I do agree with them wholeheartedly: Scott Morrison is a Prime Minister for himself and no-one else.

I say he is for himself and no-one else because Mr Morrison is the Prime Minister who was holidaying in Hawaii when bushfires were ravaging our forests, bush, communities and wildlife. I say he's for himself and no-one else because Mr Morrison is the Prime Minister who was gallivanting around in England when hundreds of thousands of us were barred from seeing our families overseas due to border closures. I say he's for himself and no-one else because Mr Morrison has completely bungled the vaccine rollout in Australia, which is his responsibility. More than 10 per cent of Wilcannia's mostly Aboriginal population is now infected with COVID-19. Tragically, one First Nations man from Dubbo has passed away. The vaccination rollout in western New South Wales has been miserably slow. These communities would not have been in this trauma and mess if the Prime Minister had done his job.

I say he's for no-one but himself because Mr Morrison chose to leave hundreds of thousands of temporary migrants and international students out of the government's COVID support packages, leaving them at the mercy of charity because they can't vote for him. I say he's for no-one but himself because Mr Morrison is plunging us ever deeper into a climate emergency which threatens the planet's and our future generations' very survival just because his campaign donations come from the fossil fuel lobby. It's not only that; we are in a climate code red and Mr Morrison is busy handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to his pals in the gas industry so they can frack the earth and pollute even more.

What a sham. What an absolute disaster this Liberal-National government is with Scott Morrison at the helm. Mr Morrison is not fit to be Prime Minister. The COVID-19 pandemic presented the Prime Minister with a chance to do things differently. Here was the Prime Minister's opportunity to redeem himself. Instead, inequality has skyrocketed and the climate crisis has gotten worse. Mr Morrison, you may not want to hold the hose, but the true fact of the matter is that you are holding us all back with your sheer incompetence and self-obsession. All you are interested in is holding on to power. To do what, though? It's to keep acting in your own political interests rather than those of the public. Acting in the public's interests is what you are here to do with the power and responsibility you have. Shame! For the sake of our collective peace of mind and collective blood pressure, I hope the Australian public has seen right through you and your shenanigans and that they vote you out come the next election.

We are sick of Mr Morrison's self-interest dominating all policy and political outcomes. It's time to get rid of this blight and take some real action on tackling inequality and the climate crisis. Only the Greens can share power with a Labor government, who we can give a big push to go further and faster and deliver this change and this hope for our community.