Ms TEMPLEMAN (Macquarie) (15:47): I have been struggling to understand what has gone wrong for the Prime Minister in the past year after his promise of new economic leadership. There seemed to be hope, there seemed to be excitement, there seemed to be a sense of change, and then there was nothing. Then I realised that was it—with the Prime Minister it was always perception, not reality. I do feel for him in this, his birthday week. I was one of those shy young children who did not like birthday parties. I did not like the attention and I did not like the noise. Clearly, I have changed, but back then I usually ended up in tears, and I suspect that is a little bit how those on the other side are feeling. They do not look very happy. They certainly do not look like they are having fun. There is a brave smile here and there. The birthday presents were not quite what they expected. It really has turned more into, 'It's my party and I'll cry if I want to,' than, 'for he's a jolly good fellow'. What are those disappointments? For the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the other side there are many, like the planned GST increase. The Prime Minister says: 'Here's what I'd really like: an increase in GST. That's all I really want. Just give me that present.' It took less than a couple of days before his friends said, 'Sorry, Prime Minister; we don't want to give you that present.' So he just shrugs his shoulders and says: 'Oh well, so far, so good. Maybe next time. Maybe I'll ask for something else.' Then he and the Treasurer say: 'Please could we have some reform of negative gearing? We both really want it. We really, really want it.' But again their friends say, 'Nope, sorry; that's not what we're going to get you.' Some friends they are on that side! It does not sound like the Prime Minister is the leader of his gang at all. It sounds like he just gets to tag along with them when it suits them. They seem to be bigger and tougher and have more influence than he does. Now the same thing is happening with the plebiscite on marriage equality. That is the one present he probably does not want, and that is the only one they want to give him. Mr Hogan interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Coulton ): The member for Page is out of his seat! Ms TEMPLEMAN: He has had to roll over on so many of the things that he argued for in the election campaign, like a $500,000 lifetime cap on super that they could never admit was retrospective. Let's make it easier for next time, shall we? Anything that has the year 2007 in it is retrospective. To think about dropping the big business tax cuts by splitting a policy in two must be a hard one for them to swallow. It was their centrepiece. It was their plan to produce jobs and growth at home, although we knew that 40 per cent of it was going to end up overseas. What is more, both of these things were cited by the Prime Minister as his greatest achievements since becoming Prime Minister. In my electorate of Macquarie, we have a bit of a thing about greatest achievements. It seems members on the other side have a bit of trouble coming to grips with what a greatest achievement is. For a start, you have to be able to think of something when you are asked what your greatest achievement is. That has proven to be a challenge for some. I have another piece of advice for the Prime Minister. I know it is rather impertinent of me, having only been in this chamber for a nanosecond, but I hope he will see it as coming from a fresh set of eyes. If you do think of something that is your greatest achievement, make sure you have actually done it. When you talk about economic leadership, you only need to look at our side—and not only at the member for Lilley, who is sitting next to me—on negative gearing. We led a debate on a policy that would change the future for a generation of young people—the ones whose parents cannot afford to buy them a home. It would give them a fairer playing field so that their future would be different and they could afford to have their own home much more easily. Now, that is economic leadership. There has been a bit of a gap for me in being in this chamber—from being up there in the gallery to down here. But when I was here, about 30 years ago, I watched another real economic leader on our side: Paul Keating. Whether it was the J-curve, tariffs, fringe benefits tax, CPI, parity or current account deficits, he did not talk down to people, like the other side does. He talked with people about these issues. The failure of economic leadership from the government is that a real leader opens people's minds and then leads them. Clearly, this Prime Minister has no ability to do that. (Time expired)