Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Sturt moving immediately:

That the Prime Minister be called on immediately to give a full explanation to the House about the circumstances involving her office and the representatives of the Tent Embassy protesters that led to the disturbance at The Lobby Restaurant on Australia Day and, in particular, to answer the charge that a culture of dirty tricks exists in her office preventing her office from addressing the serious policy issues besetting the nation at this time.

Australians instinctively want to believe the best about their Prime Minister but whilst so many questions remain unanswered about the role of her office in the Australia Day riots the Australian people cannot help but question the credibility of this Prime Minister. Standing orders need to be suspended to allow this motion to be debated and agreed to so the Prime Minister can do the right thing: give a full explanation to the House and dispel the notion that is abroad in this country that the office elevates dirty tricks above addressing the policy challenges that beset the nation.

We know that this Prime Minister would walk on a million corpses to become a cabinet minister. She told us this herself. We know she would dispatch a Prime Minister of her own party to gain the office of Prime Minister. We know she would tell the Australian people one thing to win an election and then do the opposite immediately after an election to stay in power. We know she would dispatch a Speaker to gain an extra vote in this chamber. We know she would dispatch a friend and cabinet colleague in Senator Kim Carr to keep the faceless men of the caucus happy. We know she would tear up her contract with the member for Denison to keep the foreign minister at bay. Comparing her to Lady Macbeth is unfair on Lady Macbeth—she only had one victim to her name; this Prime Minister has a list of victims longer than Richard III.

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