Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. Standing orders should be suspended here and now because there is a death stench hanging over the Prime Minister of this nation. The standing orders should be suspended here and now because we have a Prime Minister who is evading question after question when she ought to have the courage to come into this place and face up and answer questions which are in the public interest and about the good government of this nation. That is why standing orders ought to be suspended.

We have seen a progressive pattern of denial from this Prime Minister. For example, take the denial on Four Corners on Monday night, when she was asked whether she knew that a speech was being written by people in her office. A clear enough question: did she know that a speech was being written by people in her office. What was the answer? The answer from the Prime Minister on Four Corners on Monday night was:

… I did not ask for a speech to be prepared …

This is perfection of the non-denial denial. That is what we have from this Prime Minister. She got a direct question, 'Did she know something?' and she said:

… I did not ask for a speech to be prepared …

When she was pressed by the interviewer, Andrew Fowler, she said, 'That's the best answer I can give.'

Anybody in Australia who has been following this debate knows that the reality is that we have the most evasive Prime Minister who has ever occupied that chair in this parliament. It is a disgrace to the office of Prime Minister that we have such a cowardly person in it and that is why standing orders need to be suspended. This is such a cowardly person that she will not come into this chamber and face up to the questions that are being legitimately asked about the administration of her office and therefore the good government of this country.

When it comes to these issues about what actually occurred, there are only two possible explanations—and remember, this was the most important issue that was running that day. The first explanation is that before all this occurred it was totally hidden from the Prime Minister. It was the most important issue of the day. She was going to the Lobby restaurant, something that would occupy not only her advisers but her chief of staff and her communications director—her media advisers—and somehow all of those people in her office hid this from the Prime Minister. We know from what has been slowly forced out over the days since then is that these people knew about what was happening.

Standing orders should be suspended because either all the senior people in the Prime Minister's office were out on a frolic of their own, totally unknown by the Prime Minister, or the Prime Minister actually knew what was going on. These are legitimate questions and that is why standing orders should be suspended. These are legitimate questions that should be answered in this parliament. They should be answered in front of the people of Australia who watch and listen to these proceedings in question time each day. Yet what do we have? Day after day, we see total evasion by the Prime Minister.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

The Leader of the House complains about another move to suspend standing orders. We would not have to do this if we had a government who had the courage to come in here and answer the questions. So do not give us this nonsense, leader of the opposition—Leader of the House, I mean. He maybe leader of the opposition one day, but we do not know about that. But what we do know is that this total evasion, which is going on day after day, is demeaning the office of Prime Minister.

In this country we now have a Prime Minister whose credibility has been totally shredded not only over this issue but over the abandonment of the promise that she made to the member for Denison and a whole series of other issues. That is why standing orders should be suspended on this occasion: so that this Prime Minister can answer the questions that are being asked. If the government think that by running away from this, by evading it, the questions are not going to continue to be asked then they are sadly mistaken. These are legitimate questions that demand legitimate answers, rather than the cowardly behaviour and performance that we continue to have from this Prime Minister.

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