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

People stand in front of tanks to get that system of government. It is called democracy. It is called a separation of the state from the judicial system. It is called a separation of politics and number crunching from proper judicial processes. I make no judgment. It is up to someone else to make judgment and it is not for this parliament. This is an extraordinary proposition that has been put forward.

There is hypocrisy from those opposite who relied upon the votes of the member for Bowman and the member for Bonner for the passage of 12 health bills while the Leader of the Opposition was health minister and the Manager of Opposition Business was ageing minister. They voted in 14 legislative divisions and 19 non-legislative divisions while they were being investigated for entitlement misuse in 2007. The Howard government did not disown the votes of Mr Laming and Mr Vasta. They continued to vote and participate in the parliament. I tell you what, we did not ask them not to vote either. We did not ask them not to vote because we understood that this opportunism is very dangerous indeed in what it means for the functioning of our democracy, for the functioning of our judicial system and for proper processes.

The opposition did not require Senator Mary Jo Fisher to stand aside or refuse to accept her vote while she was under a cloud of criminality. The Leader of the Opposition accepted Senator Fisher's vote 95 times including on the clean energy bills. And she was found guilty. According to the coalition that, of course, is very different. Well, there is one difference: Senator Fisher was charged, whereas the member for Dobell has not been charged with anything, let alone findings found. So let processes take their course, but let's not go down the road—

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

See this speech in context