Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If Prime Minister Albanese isn't careful, he is going to sleepwalk Australia into a government led by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton. Mr Albanese, acting like a diet version of Mr Dutton, will not defeat the Liberals. You cannot outflank Mr Dutton to the right, and you cannot appease Mr Dutton, nor can you appease the right-wing media that cheers him on. The only way to stop a Mr Dutton-led Liberal Party is with principles and values and the courage to confront the truth and the great challenges our country is facing head on. Labor's refusal to tackle the real issues with the urgency they demand is effectively telling Australians everything is fine, when we all know everything is not fine in Australia. Labor's arrogance and its detachment from the lived struggles of ordinary Australians are creating the perfect storm for Mr Dutton to step into. By pretending everything is under control and tinkering around the edges when what is needed is strong intervention, Labor is betraying the people who need it the most, and Mr Dutton knows this. He offers people an enemy, someone to falsely blame for their hardships, and so migrants again become the scapegoat, the distraction, while the real issues are ignored. It's a cynical, nasty ploy that only works when government fails to address the pain and the fears that fuel insecurities.

But we don't have to accept this path. The Greens are here to stand with people, to call out the establishment parties, to recognise people's struggles and to offer real solutions. We won't let fear and division rule our future. (Time expired)