STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr SMALL (Forrest—Opposition Whip) (13:51): Today is brought to you by the numbers 50, 97, 275 and 385, because who promised to bring power bills down by $275 but this Prime Minister? How many times was that promise made? Ninety-seven times, by this Prime Minister.

Instead, power prices have surged under their net zero fantasy. Who was it that promised he wouldn't touch negative gearing and capital gains tax for residential property? This Prime Minister.

How many times did he promise that? Fifty times, in his own words. Yet how did they pass it through this parliament?

With help from their mates, the Greens, of course. But hang on—who promised 385 times that he wouldn't govern in coalition with the Greens? This Prime Minister.

He's become quite fond of quoting others in here, so I'll quote him: Watching this Prime Minister try to navigate his way through parliament this week reminded me of a Malcolm Tucker quote, 'This is like a clown running across a minefield' because the fleas are jumping off this dog of a government. Well, they've certainly got fleas now, because they laid with the dogs in the Senate.

Here is another pearler in the Prime Minister's own words: The Prime Minister has the consistency of mercury—dense, shiny, slippery, toxic and will change shape … A prime minister who has no regard for what he himself said yesterday should be given no regard for what he says today. And so it is with their promises on the widow tax.