Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson for raising this urgency motion, which I obviously wholeheartedly support. The Albanese Labor government have truly—and I do mean truly—lost the confidence of the Australian people and lost the confidence of those in this chamber that have a brain between their ears.

Charles Dickens summed up the Albanese government perfectly when he said:

… it was the worst of times, … it was the age of foolishness, … it was the season of Darkness, … it was the winter of despair …

That's what he said. Or, as the front page headline of yesterday's West Australian newspaper declared, 'Everything is f*cked'. That's a quote that was on the newspaper. The headline was crude—I'll admit that—but the fact that the editor even believed that he could get away with it in the first place tells you where public sentiment is at right now with this government.

If there has been a more chaotic government in this country's history, Mr Kevin Rudd would love to hear about it. If there has been a more economically clueless government in this country's history, Gough Whitlam is all ears. This Albanese government—or, as the Chinese have taken to calling it, 'the handsome boy administration'—makes Whitlam look like a fiscal conservative and makes Rudd look like a strategic genius. That's what it does. This government is so bad that people are even nostalgic about the Gillard government. Those were the days: the Gillard government!

This government promised lower electricity prices. What did we get? We got higher prices. They promised cheaper mortgages. What did we get? Eighteen months and 12 rate rises—that's what we got—and thousands of Australians becoming homeless every single month. This government promised us that they had a plan. To do what? They had a plan to lower the cost of living. What did we get? Grocery prices that require people to sell their firstborn child to pay the bill at the check-out. This government promised higher wages.