James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Actually, Acting Deputy President, I'm not going to. I wasn't impugning his character. I actually said he possibly could be education minister based on his track record in Tasmania, which is where he did propose the closure of lots of schools. I don't think that's impugning someone's character; I think that's setting the facts on the record.

But, to go back to Senator Faruqi and her well-known love of koalas and natural bushland, I think perhaps Senator Faruqi could be the minister for bush and koalas. Having said that, it's actually quite serious here, because the Albanese Labor government have absolutely destroyed Australians economically. Australians are living in a cost-of-living crisis caused by this Labor Party government. It's been caused by a weak Prime Minister who's unable to make decisions. Let's face it, he went to North Queensland last week. He left parliament early and went to North Queensland. As a Queensland senator, I am pleased that the Prime Minister of this country visited Townsville and the flood centres, where they've been absolutely destroyed by the floods, but this Labor Party Prime Minister left North Queensland early to attend a Labor Party fundraiser in Brisbane. This Labor Party Prime Minister spent more time attending Labor Party events in Brisbane, including a fundraiser, than he did meeting with victims of the floods in Ingham and Townsville. That shows you the mentality and the character of the Prime Minister of this country.

But, then, this is a prime minister who's clearly not trusted by the security services of this country. This is a prime minister who's not trusted by the Labor Premier of New South Wales. This country came very close to a mass casualty event. A caravan full of explosives was to be placed outside either a Jewish synagogue or a Jewish church, yet this Prime Minister cannot tell Australians if he was told or when he was told.

So what is the use of this Prime Minister? There is no use of this Prime Minister but to show to the Australian people the danger of a Labor government and the extreme danger of a Labor-Greens government. We know that the Labor Party will do a preference deal with the Greens party—the Greens party, who are a racist, antisemitic party. This is a Greens party who refuse to accept the situation that is happening in the Middle East, a Greens party who are apologists for what has happened over there and a Greens party who do not acknowledge the antisemitism that has grown in Australia because of some of the actions of Greens politicians. So you can just imagine what would happen to this country with a minority Labor-Greens government. You would have people who dislike modern Australia trying to govern modern Australia. Vote LNP!