Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, quite clearly your ruling is correct on this matter. An opposition in search of a quick, cheap headline does not change that one iota. There is something ironic about those opposite talking about the dignity of the chamber. These are the people who brought in a cardboard cut-out of the Prime Minister. In opposition I disagreed strongly with the then Prime Minister. We did not treat the chamber like that. We did not treat dissent resolutions as a matter of convenience. We did not move points of order in one out of every two questions. We did not refuse, when provided with the opportunity by the Speaker, to rephrase questions to get them in order—even though the Speaker has been generous in allowing the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to do just that.

Yesterday, we had you, Mr Speaker, refer specifically to page 538 of the standing orders and the opposition deliberately defied that and asked a question that they knew was out of order. They know this question was out of order. They only moved it so as to move a dissent motion, and they are exposed on it by the fact that they moved a dissent motion after you gave them the opportunity to rephrase the question. This is an opposition that is out of touch, as best shown by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, who ridiculed those people who would search for specials in supermarkets. That is absolutely outrageous. (Time expired)

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