Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was making the point that wild dogs are also a problem in my own electorate. I am very conscious of the impact

Opposition members interjecting—

Now the members of the opposition are laughing—on flora and fauna, native vegetation and native animals in my electorate. They think that is funny. The member for Gippsland goes to the Selection Committee with what he claims was a serious motion. They think it is so serious and important that they not only allocate time for debate but also determine we should vote upon it in this place. Now they do two things. They try to run interference in that process and they try to deny the member for Gippsland the opportunity to put his motion to a vote—and now they laugh at the motion. It says something about their state of mind—a state of mind which is being driven entirely at the moment by what they see is an opportunity to sit on this side of the House. They are going to find themselves very, very disappointed.

The behaviour of the opposition just now proves without any question that this is a stunt and any objective member, particularly those sitting on the other side, would have to agree with those on this side and on the crossbenches that, in any contest as to whether it is more important to be dealing with private members' business in an orderly process, this motion should be afforded far more priority than a stunt from the other side which is purely about politics and political opportunities. It is about going after a member of this place who has legal processes underway and who is constrained on legal advice about what he should be saying publicly, whether in this place or elsewhere. It is all about sniffing a bit of blood. I want to close by restating my invitation (1) to the member for Gippsland to stand in this place and say he really believes that he would rather have us deal with a stunt than deal with the motion he put so much thought and effort into, and (2) to members of the opposition who sit on the Selection Committee to stand in this place, having worked so hard with me and other members from the government and the crossbenchers in getting in place these orderly processes—processes which afford private members so many rights—and explain why they are about to vote for a stunt rather than to vote for the rights of private members and the processes of the Selection Committee.

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