After all, politics doesn’t end once you become Prime Minister.
In this song, Keating faces off against John Hewson, Leader of the Opposition, over the Goods and Services Tax, the centerpiece of Hewson’s party’s manifesto. Essentially, Hewson wanted to replace most taxes with a generalized sales tax...
JOHN HEWSON:
Doctor who? Doctor Hewson!
Sit up straight when I'm talking to you, son
The magical might from the radical right
I'm gonna light up the night with a scheme and a dream so bright
So sit right back while we bite back, this is called Fightback
Me and my G on the right track
And we don't stop 'till we get our way:
GST - OK!
BAND:
Hey! Oh! Hey! Oh!
PAUL KEATING:
GST? This is what you call salvation?
To whack taxation over the nation?
This is the bright new plan you bring?
Fifteen percent on everything?
I was a stick-up kid for capital gains
But the feeling wanes when you grow some brains!
Poor law, my homies say:
GST - no way!
BAND:
Nay! No! Nay! No!
HEWSON:
We're twenty points up, we're off the charts!
We don't need you and your bleeding hearts!
The poor and the sick'll have a trickle to suck
But if you give 'em a hand they just drag you down into the muck! That's why you're born to lose
You get stuck in the shit in your shiny shoes
And that's why you're gonna get blown away
'Cause you can't play like Doctor J!
You can't play like Doctor J!
BAND:
You can't play like Doctor J!
HEWSON:
I said, you can't play like Doctor J, no way, Jose!
KEATING:
Oh no! They sent the Doctor to get us!
It's like been flogged with warm lettuce and cabbages!
The feral abacus! Come to savage us!
He must be ravenous, ravenous!
KEATING AND BAND:
Mister Mediocrity for the bunyip aristocracy!
KEATING:
The member for Wentworth should be in bed
He's like a lizard on a rock, alive but lookin' dead.
Old Dozy knows when I've got him
He always turns around when I drop one on him
It's something he can't psychologically handle
Him and his band of constitutional vandals
Drones and pansies, frauds and mugs
Blackguards, harlots, pigs and thugs
Mindless stupid foul-mouthed grubs
You couldn't even raffle a chook in a pub!
Barnyard bullies, crims and ghouls
Dullards, dimwits, ninnies
Clowns and fools and born-to-rules
Over here we're born to rule you
You dishonest crew, you almost make me spew!
Loopy intellectual hoboes!
Brain-damaged dummies and desperadoes!
Hare-brained hillbilly cheats, cheats, cheats!
Well, they'll always be
KEATING AND BAND:
Cheats! Cheats! Cheats!
KEATING:
Useless motley corporate crooks and clots!
Stunned mullet rustbucket boxheads!
Scumbags and alley cats!
You wanna fight back? Fight back! Fight back from that!
HEWSON:
Oh, you bloody...
Your mum's a bitch!
Well, alright, you think you've got it made?
Let the game be played!
Why are you so afraid?
You've got the cheek to critique and shriek that we're weak.
Let the people decide! Let the public speak!
Make a correction! Call an election! Show us your miraculous resurrection!
If the people hate me and you're so great, why you wanna make me wait?
KEATING:
Because...
On The Floor was written by Casey Bennetto.
Casey Bennetto released On The Floor on Thu Jan 01 2004.