Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Without wishing to oppose the motion, I point out that it would have been courteous of the Leader of the House to have raised this with the opposition before he put this motion before the House. It is in fact grossly discourteous of the Leader of the House to raise this matter in this way. The other point I make is that implicit in the Leader of the House’s remarks is the suggestion that a member of this House might have done something wrong, and I think it is very wrong of the Leader of the House to make that kind of smear against another member of this House. It is absolutely incumbent upon all members of this House to give each other the benefit of the doubt when it comes to that kind of conduct. It is typical of the kind of nasty politics played by the Leader of the House that he should have made that kind of statement here in this House today.

The opposition is not going to oppose this motion, because we think that the rise of new media does pose challenges for the operation of this House, and obviously mobile phones should not be used as cameras in this House against the standing orders. I utterly reject any suggestion that members of this House might have acted dishonourably and any suggestion that members of this House have acted poorly against each other. I think it is contemptible for the Leader of the House to come in here and play nasty Sussex Street politics with a matter as important as this.

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