Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Leader of the Opposition) (15:02): by leave—I move: That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah moving immediately: That this House calls on the Prime Minister to: (1) immediately explain why she removed Kevin Rudd saying that his government had lost its way on border protection, climate change and the mining tax when now, two years on, the boats keep coming, there’s a carbon tax starting on Sunday and we have a $3.3 billion hole in the Budget because of a botched mining tax; and (2) tell the Australian people when she now expects her Government finally to find its way. Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms AE Burke ): Order! The member for Herbert! The member for Berowra! You are all eating into the Leader of the Opposition's time. The Leader of the Opposition has the call. Mr ABBOTT: Yesterday was this Prime Minister's second anniversary in office. It was the anniversary no-one wanted to mention yesterday, let alone celebrate, because we all know that the faceless men of the Labor Party moved against the member for Griffith, the former Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, when Labor's primary vote was 35 per cent and it was actually ahead in the two-party preferred vote. So it is no wonder that the Prime Minister has now gone to take refuge, seeking asylum in the chief whip's office, pleading with him not to do to her what he and others earlier did to the member for Griffith, the former Prime Minister. Mr Perrett: Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: we have just had a motion at the start of question time about asylum seekers, and to use that term in this debate is totally inappropriate. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Moreton will resume his seat. Mr Swan: Madam Deputy Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition needs to be relevant to the question, and what he has proven today is that he will say anything and do anything for political power. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition has the call and will refer to the motion before the chair. Mr ABBOTT: Madam Deputy Speaker, standing orders should be suspended because this is the second anniversary of the Gillard government and this Prime Minister should face the parliament and explain her manifest failures—her failures to be competent, her failures to be trustworthy, her failure to be honest and open with the Australian people. Mr Champion interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, the member for Wakefield! Mr ABBOTT: Standing orders must be suspended because you would think any Prime Minister who was at all proud of her record would at least put out a glossy brochure to celebrate the second anniversary. It is not as if this is a government which is not spending a lot of money on self-promotion. Mr Swan: Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: yes, he should come back to why standing orders should be suspended. That is what he should do. Honourable members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition has the call and will refer to the motion before the chair. Mr ABBOTT: Madam Deputy Speaker, standing orders should be suspended because, I tell you what, the Sussex Street squad are not just coming for the Prime Minister, they are coming for the Deputy Prime Minister too. We all know the minister for workplace relations wants to be the Treasurer in the government of the member for Griffith. That is why standing orders should be suspended. This is a Prime Minister who consistently runs away from facing up to this parliament, who consistently runs away from giving an account of her stewardship to the Australian people, and you would think that after two long years of failure the least she would try to do is come into this parliament and give an explanation of what has happened in this time. Two years ago she said that a good government had lost its way. That is what the Prime Minister said, and standing orders should be suspended so she can explain exactly what she meant by that. We know that when the Prime Minister said a good government had lost its way she did not actually believe that; because, just a few months ago, when she was again challenged by the member for Griffith, she said that it was not a good government, it was an absolutely shambolic government and it was completely paralysed by the ineptitude and the incompetence of the member for Griffith. But she did pledge that she would provide a better government and that she would give us a better way on border protection, a better way on climate change policy, a better way on the mining tax. But, as the people of Australia well know—and this is why standing orders should be suspended—the government has just got worse and worse. This is a bad government getting worse, and every day its failures become more apparent. It is a government which is incompetent and untrustworthy. It has got the Midas touch in reverse. The only thing that this government is good at is savagery against anyone who dares to stand up against it, and that is why standing orders should be suspended. We only have to look at what the current Deputy Prime Minister said about the member for Griffith, and this is why standing orders should be suspended: so that the Prime Minister can explain herself. Why did she put the Deputy Prime Minister up to say that the member for Griffith has no Labor values and never had any? Why did she put up the member for Bendigo to go out there and carpet-bomb the reputation of the former Labor Prime Minister of this country, calling him a psychopath with an ego problem? And what does it say—and this is why standing orders should be suspended—about this Prime Minister and about these ministers at the table that 31 members of caucus were prepared to back a 'psychopath' against the current incumbent Prime Minister? The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will— Mr ABBOTT: Madam Deputy Speaker, standing orders should be suspended because six days before the last election, this Prime Minister stood up and said, hand on heart, to the Australian people: 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,' and she needs to give an explanation. Why did she mislead the Australian public six days before the last election? Why did she mislead the Australian public to win votes? Why, having scrambled back into the Lodge, did she do the exact opposite of what she had promised before the last election the Australian public that she would do? This is a Prime Minister who simply cannot be trusted, and standing orders should be suspended so that this Prime Minister can give an explanation of why now she will not even mention the carbon tax. It is like the anniversary that she does not want to mention. This is the tax—and this is the anniversary—that dare not speak its name. That is why standing orders must be suspended, because this is a Prime Minister and a government that are in denial. The Prime Minister is clearly in denial about the impact of the carbon tax on the aluminium industry. Her own modelling shows that there will be a 61 per cent decline in aluminium production under the carbon tax, and she tries to pretend that the workers at Point Henry could not be happier about the carbon tax, that they love the carbon tax, that the last thing they are concerned about is the carbon tax. Well, she needs to explain why she wants to put in place a government policy that will all but destroy the aluminium industry in this country. We have the minister for climate change constantly telling us that the coal industry could not be happier about the carbon tax and they love the carbon tax—even though the whole point of a carbon tax is to stop the use of coal. If it does not stop the use of coal what is the point? Coal is what is producing the emissions which the carbon tax is designed to limit, and the government's own modelling shows that, absent carbon capture and storage, the coal industry will go from 70 per cent of electricity production down to 10 per cent. It spells the death of the coal industry as we know it. This is a rotten Prime Minister leading a rotten government. This is why standing orders ought to be suspended. We know that the faceless men are about to change the leader of the Labor Party but they cannot change the government; only the Australian people can do that, and, boy, are they waiting for that day! (Time expired) The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?