Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not sure 'pointed' is the right word! Of all weeks to claim there is a duopoly, of all weeks to say there's a Coles and Woolworths of Australian politics! This is a week that's going to demonstrate a couple of things: firstly, that there is a very big difference between what we stand for in government and what the former government did and stood for, to the extent you could say they stood for anything apart from their own interests; and, secondly, that there's quite a bit of a gulf between us. We are going to deliver this week what we said we were going to deliver, and this bill is part of that agenda—a national integrity commission, and industrial relations reform. Last week it was child care. The problem with this silly hyperbolic rhetoric is: in order for political rhetoric to be effective, it has to have some relationship with the truth.

I listened to Senator McKim's account of the terrible things that this bill was going to do, and I thought: 'I'd better check for myself. This doesn't sound very good.' It turns out downsizing is not a bad thing; we should have more of it. People who live in big homes—and there are only a few of them—should give them away, and people with big families should move into big homes and people with little families should move into little homes, and there should be a little bit of support from government for that. I had a look at the budget impact—not very much. You can claim to be opposed to extreme rhetoric on the other side of politics, and all the engagement with the characters who inhabit that end, but you've actually got to be a little bit measured when it comes to what you say yourself. Schedule 5 is very clear. Downsizing is good; the budget impact is tiny. In this week, of all weeks, you try and claim these things—I think this week should have a trigger warning for Liberal politicians. We had the Victorian election last Saturday. I can't wait for next Saturday, but last Saturday—