Wednesday, 3 June 2026

 Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (16:16): I grieve for the people of Victoria and the impact that that would have on people if the member for Kew ever gets her cuts agenda up in Victoria. But I feel as well that I want to grieve for the member for Polwarth. I felt like calling for a quorum. I wanted to see the crew come in here. I wanted to see the energy lift up. But I do have a soft spot for the member for Polwarth. We served on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee for four years together. I think, just personally, that he should be on the front bench. I am just putting it out to Liberal HQ over there and all those champions across the road on Spring Street who will be watching this presentation. I have got a few zingers coming for those legends over there. When we look over there, we need a bit more support over there. The member for Evelyn, the shadow minister, could give a little bit of a text message. It was a good, solid effort. It had the same fear campaign themes around where things are going, the lack of accountability around the cuts that they would make, the impact that they would make in regional Victoria with that crazy policy where they will put a cap on how much investment they will put into regional Victoria. Twenty-five per cent is the threshold across policies. They will cut funding in health and cut funding in education, which are over 25 per cent of the state’s contribution. It was a good account, Speaker. I know you will be making ratings out of 10 for how people go. I thought it was a solid effort from the member for Polwarth.

It announced as well that, for those opposite, their heart is not in it. We saw that during question time yesterday. Once they had asked their questions, the eyes were down. No-one was paying attention on the back bench. You do not feel like they have got any sense of readiness to do anything other than cut an absolute amount of services, and it shows in their policy offerings. Besides mowing lawns and getting on forklifts illegally, what is the member for Kew doing? It is like ‘Check, one, two’ over on Spring Street across the road. What is the opposition office doing, other than bumbling up a few more TikToks and reels that no-one is really watching? What have you got on the go? There is no policy offering.

Brad Battin interjected.

Tim RICHARDSON: I was going to come to the member for Berwick, because I also have a little bit of a soft spot for the member for Berwick. I still grieve for the member for Berwick, a fellow traveller from Berwick. He has stayed in Berwick his whole life. I left as a kid. I still grieve for the member for Berwick. What did he do? He was doing all right. They were polling all right. He was answering the questions around One Nation. As soon as the member for Berwick nicked off, the whole – I will not mention the proverbial fan, Speaker, that would be unparliamentary. But it did. What happened? The primary was up in the 30s. It was whipping around. We had the gun show over there going on and all the fireside chats. He had the Geelong jersey on. He was doing the dunk. We were up and about for it. We were getting a bit excited. Then he was gone. Where is the primary now of the Liberal–National parties? If you take the Nationals out of it, goodness me, it is in all sorts. They are in the low 20s.

You have got Angus Taylor begging for Tony Abbott to come back nationally. I mean, it is yesterday’s heroes. The answer to the existential crisis that the Liberals face is Angus Taylor and Tony Abbott. I mean, ‘Hello, is this thing on?’ This is not 2010 or 2013, is it? It is an extraordinary moment for the Liberal Party. We sit over here on this side and go, ‘How could they make a decision that is so self-inflicting and damaging?’ I was talking to a colleague about it earlier on. I thought, ‘We could not write a script as ridiculous as this.’ You chose Tony Abbott and then got him out on Sky News after his little kitchen chat with Peta Credlin, which was all kinds of weird.

But then they go, ‘Oh, I’ve got a bright idea. Let’s bring back Tony Abbott who had the dust-up with Pauline Hanson.’ Remember that? He was the one who smothered One Nation. Then he has a moment where he comes back into realisation and says, ‘Oh, that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to go further to the right. We don’t want to fight on the right. We want to go after Anthony Albanese. We want to go after this Labor government and destroy the Liberal Party as we know it today.’

Well, the numbers that we have seen show they are absolutely achieving in record terms. We see the Liberal Party now in almost irrelevance nationally, and One Nation – Pauline Hanson or Barnaby Joyce or whoever else fronts up – will then lead them. This is really systemic to them where we see their behaviours and actions. Obviously the now Liberal president Brian Loughnane comes back. We know he is royalty in the Liberal circles here, but he knows a thing or two about cuts. Where was Brian when the Abbott and Hockey budget of hell was delivered? Where was he? He was in Canberra. He was in Canberra when they were having the cigars and saying, ‘Let’s smash the hell out of Australians. Let’s cut every bit of service that ever existed. He was there. You do not need to be Sherlock Holmes to work out this riddle and where I am going. This is one of the worst crime plots you will ever see. Brian is the cuts legend. You have got Tony Abbott as the cuts legend in 2013 – I know you are following along. The cuts are there. He has come back. Brian is back, and what does he say? Brian has made a call for unity which follows years of factional warfare. I mean, Brian is one of the kings of the factional warfare. Remember that? Abbott, Turnbull, Scott Morrison – goodness me. So he has come back, and he is calling for unity, which follows years of the factional fighting within the state division. He has issued this call to arms for this unity against the backdrop of continuing legal action between members of the party’s governing administrative committee.

That is the backdrop that those opposites say that they are ready to govern Victorians on. I mean, the member for Brighton was threatening to go to court earlier on today about electoral matters. Those at the party head office down at Lib HQ all started hyperventilating because they are still paying off the member for Hawthorn’s loan. They are going, ‘Don’t promise any more legals. No more legals. We don’t want any more legal action.’ You know the member for Brighton has got his juris doctor now. He just did that one on the side. He maybe just did that one while he was doing his work. Maybe he will know what the legal threshold is for legal aid. It is when you do not have any money and you need some support. I am saying here: just write to the Attorney-General and ask for some legal aid assistance for the Liberal Party’s next challenge against each other. But because they are always fighting each other, it is first in, best dressed. So whichever one of them goes to court against themselves first will be the first, and then the others would have a conflict of interest, so get in early because the legal show and the legal shemozzle that is the Liberal Party will continue on forever and a day.

This mob thinks that they can front up with half-baked policies, jump on a forklift illegally or mow grass or jump over some high jumps and say, ‘We’re serious.’ At least the Nationals do some policy work. I mean, let us not go near there. The member for Gippsland South, the Leader of the Nationals, got admonished by the member for Murray Plains when he said they should split from the coalition, but I think he was the oracle. I think he saw this coming. I will give him his flowers, the member for Gippsland South. I am just going through my favourites of those coalition legends over there, but he is one of the faves, the Leader of the Nationals. But remember that a week in he goes, ‘They’re no good.’ Now Walshy, the member for Murray Plains, was in the freezer, but they repair quickly because there is only about eight of them or something. You do not have to go through too much factional territory. You have got to find two mates and then you are in. That is it; you are done. You can get a leadership. The member for Euroa, you can have a chance. There are only a few of you. Just have a few friends. Just take them out for coffee and you will be leader by the end of the week. Just look at all that they have lined up.

In comes the member for Murray Plains. I will tell you, this is well timed. For those that were in transit, what we were saying, member for Murray Plains, was the member for Gippsland South wanted to break the coalition. It is my understanding that the member for Murray Plains was not very happy about that, so the member for Gippsland South was in the freezer for a little bit, but I think he was the oracle. That was the point I was making, because he and others saw that the Liberal Party is a corrosive, destructive force in Victorian politics at the moment. They are trying to be populist without a base. One Nation does that. The true origins of the two-party system – or what I said before with the Greens political party, the multiparty system that we have now – has served Victorians well for decades, and we are seeing this eroded in the biggest possible frame.

Those opposite cannot blame anyone else. They cannot blame anyone other than themselves. What we saw during federal circumstances and what we saw during the pandemic eroded trust and pumped up populists and now we find ourselves in this position. Guess what? The polling is different in New South Wales because of the standards that they set. Premier Minns and opposition leader Sloane – it is a completely different tone. It has not always been that way, but just look at how Kellie Sloane and Chris Minns fronted up during a crisis. Look at what happened. Look at what Sussan Ley did to Anthony Albanese, look at what happened here in smaller circumstances. This is a moment in time. I think the Liberal Party has missed it and it has gone. I do not think they can correct. I think it is over, and we are dealing with the One Nation types into the future. If it is next term or the term after, the Liberal Party will cease to exist, and I think the Nationals might have three seats. It is that cataclysmic, and every bit of multilevel regression with poststratification modelling shows that.

This is the nub of the issue of why I grieve today for if the Wilson coalition ever got near the Treasury benches. It is because they need to be populist for their survival – to cut and destroy the public service because that is exactly what One Nation populists will do. That is exactly it. It is about the ideals, and the member for Kew is on the record as saying business creates jobs, not government. For anyone working in anything that has a connection to government now, that means your job is irrelevant. The member for Kew does not back teachers, the member for Kew does not back nurses. If you are in any sort of construction or you are in any government role, the member for Kew will see you go.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, these are baseless accusations. Speaker Maddigan ruled in the past that the grievance debate is not an opportunity to personally attack members of the opposition. I would ask you to uphold that.

The SPEAKER: It is a grievance debate. It has been far ranging. It is a point of debate.

Tim RICHARDSON: I know it is tough to front up to the consequences of saying those opposite would cut one in seven workers. It is tough. I get that, member for Evelyn. I was shocked as much as you were. If I had not read all the material, I would think it was a personal attack as well. I give you credit for that. I was so shocked at the time. I thought, ‘The member for Kew couldn’t do this. The member for Kew couldn’t go and cut one in seven jobs in Victoria and destroy the public service.’ Just from a political standpoint, after what Jeff Kennett did and after what Tony Abbott did, I would come to the same conclusion: it would be unconscionable for a Liberal leader who says that they are a millennial on the side of people in her generation to go and absolutely hack into the services that we rely on as Victorians. I get that. It is hard to take, but it is reality.

It is something that we will remind Victorians about for the next 177 days up until election day, because they need to know that these populist, nasty decisions that destroy confidence in our state have consequences. Forty billion dollars in cuts is going to hurt. Show me an example where austerity has led to better prosperity and where destroying the confidence, trust and aspiration of Victorians has led to a better outcome. It does not exist. You have got to build up hope and aspiration. That is what this government has done in its investment and in its prioritisation of growth, creating jobs and building hope for the future. You do not cut the place to pieces. You do not do nothing for the next decade for numbers in a budget paper and an ideology that would make libertarians blush. We need to be honest and accountable to this.

We know that this is the rich hallmark of a One Nation–Liberal preference deal that will then be embedded in a One Nation–Liberal coalition. Those opposite can deny it. Those opposite can say it does not exist. We will not see too many Nationals next time; it will be orange in here. Half of them will be on the crossbench like they always are. Remember the Queensland legend in One Nation? Goodness me, I think there were 11, and 10 were gone in the first year or two on to the crossbench. We know how dismal that looks, but those opposite have created the recipe for that.

If they do not accept that contention, here is the point. Tony Abbott said, as the president of the Liberal Party, ‘We no longer fight on the right.’ They have given up. They have given up fighting One Nation. It is all over. Those opposite can laugh, but on multilevel regression with poststratification and polling, the Nationals seats do not exist. The member for Morwell is a ripper guy, but 18 of the worst booths are One Nation in the whole lot. You look at it and go, ‘The alarm bells are going off of populism here,’ and no-one on the right is standing up and doing anything about it – no-one. The ones on the left have. We have pushed the Greens back and taken back seats – Griffith, Melbourne, Northcote. Have a look at that. While those opposite say that they have ceded that space – we wish them well in the future – it will be Labor governments that have to fight for working people against One Nation, rather than Liberals and Nationals into the future, because that is the dawn of time right now, and I grieve for a system that has One Nation as such a dominant feature.