Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I don't know about anyone else, but I feel a bit queasy now. The fact that we could be staring down a minority government with those opposite and the unicorn farmers in charge really does make me fear for the future of this country. The reality is that we live in the greatest nation on earth; however, the last three years have seen poor decisions by this government mean that all Australians are worse off, that all Australians are a little bit less safe and that our nation has been divided.

Every Australian knows that they are worse off than when this government came to office. I think what has also become quite unsettling about this government is their constant need to gaslight Australians. They do it every day in this chamber, when they are one step from saying Australians have never had it so good. You only need to go out and talk to the mums who actually pay the childcare bills to know that child care isn't cheaper. You can say it as much as you like, but it's not true. Every time you tell a mum that you're so good because you've delivered cheaper child care, when the reality is it's up over 12 per cent and more than that for a lot of families, you are just gaslighting these Australian women by saying to them: 'No, you're wrong. We have delivered cheaper child care. You don't understand. We have. No, it can't be that more money is coming out of your wallet each week.' But they know it is.

You are gaslighting Australians with this renewable only push. We can imagine how that's going to go when you're in partnership with the unicorn farmers. The only time you'll get a bend in a transmission powerline under this lot is when Mehreen Faruqi is building another house—and the koala can get out of the way of that.