Tanya Plibersek warns: 'The new Prime Minister is just like the old one.'

‘We have found out today that the new Prime Minister is a hollow man.’

When Malcolm Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott from the nation’s top political job this week, many liberal-minded Australians breathed a sigh of relief.

They hoped new Prime Minister Turnbull, with his belief in the science of climate change and his support of marriage equality, would bring about progressive political change.

But when questioned on his key policies on Tuesday, Turnbull seemed to back down — confirming he supported Abbott’s old climate targets and plan for a plebiscite on marriage equality.

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek was not going to let that apparent backflip go unnoticed. So she gave a strongly worded speech in Parliament, warning that: “this new Prime Minister is actually just like the old one”.

Watch the full speech here (post continues after video):

“The member for Wentworth has been wandering around his electorate for 6 years, with a nod and a wink, whispering ‘put me in charge and see how much things will change’,” Plibersek said in a later online post, sharing a video of her speech.

“Now we have the people of Australia, they’re thinking ‘Thank goodness, we can do something about climate change, we can do something about funding for the ABC, we can move forward on marriage equality.’ If only…”

She concluded in her powerfully delivered address that Turnbull had already revealed himself to be “a hollow man”.

“What we have found through Question Time today is that this new Prime Minister is actually just like the old one. There’s a bit of difference to the style, but the policies are the same,” she said.

“We have found out through one short Question Time that the new Prime Minister is a hollow man.”

Tanya Plibersek is a regular columnist for Mamamia. You can read some of her writing here, here and here.

How much do you think Turnbull will reshape Australia’s policies on key issues?