Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has declared:

If there is to be a single party in Queensland, then the only basis on which I would accept a single party in Queensland would be the Liberal Party.

The Prime Minister is meeting Queensland federal Liberal MPs tonight to declare his total opposition to a merged party. So let us be clear that this is not a merger but a takeover of the Queensland Nationals by the Liberals. It is a capitulation by the Queensland Nationals. It is a capitulation by the member for Dawson, who has pretended to fight the privatisation of Telstra as a National but who now will join the very Liberals who have led the privatisation push. It is a capitulation by the member for Hinkler, who would now run as a Liberal. And it is a capitulation by the member for Wide Bay, the Deputy Leader of the National Party, who has joined us here tonight but who is now to become a Liberal. ‘Warren Truss, Liberal candidate for Wide Bay’ has a certain ring about it, don’t you think?

I will chance my arm on the forthcoming redistribution and predict that a new seat will be in the Hinkler-Wide Bay area because both of those are heavily over quota, and that too would be contested by a Liberal. It is a capitulation by Senators Ron Boswell and Barnaby Joyce. We all know that Senator Boswell has long been a closet Liberal, but Senator Joyce has paraded himself as a fiercely independent Queensland National who stands up against the Liberals. Senator Joyce is set to join the Liberals. No more photos of angry confrontations between Senator Heffernan and Senator Joyce in the Senate. They are about to become the best of friends, bosom buddies. Senator Joyce complained about an election letter signed by the Prime Minister introducing his Senate team that failed to include Senator Joyce as a team member. Next time around the Liberals will include Senator Joyce on their team, but in the unwinnable No. 4 spot.

Queensland National Party members might think that they can run as candidates for some sort of federal National Party, but they would be candidates for a National Party controlled 100 per cent by the Liberals. Barnaby, if it looks like a Liberal Party, if it walks like a Liberal Party and if it quacks like a Liberal Party, it is a Liberal Party. This is John Howard’s nightmare. I was a staffer to Bob Hawke in 1987 when we returned from an overseas trip—

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