Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

One reason we are here this morning debating this disallowance motion is that the Leader of the Opposition’s leadership is under pressure. He has Combet and Shorten looking over his shoulder. Another reason we are debating this motion today is that the member for Perth is under pressure. The member for Perth has every member of the backbench and the union movement looking at him and saying, ‘You’re not muscling up.’ Combet told the ALP, ‘Muscle up, get your act together or we’ll review our support.’ And what support is that? It is $50 million worth of support.

Make no mistake: the ALP is under pressure. The Leader of the Opposition is under pressure and the member for Perth is under pressure. They have the hide to come into this chamber and say that our Work Choices legislation is extreme legislation. I will tell you what is extreme: the language that is creeping into the member for Brand’s speeches these days. That is what is extreme. It is interesting that an article in today’s Australian talks about the growing tendency for members of the ALP to use xenophobic type language. It is not about skilled migration from other countries; it is: ‘Let’s talk about India, let’s talk about Chinese migrants and divert people’s attention.’ That is extreme.

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