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

that people could be suspended from the parliament. He withdrew that this week. He withdrew it. So what is this all about? The idea that, in the future, a government that has a majority would use that majority to change the make-up of an elected parliament. These are precedents that have consequences for the future. This is taking the politics of destructiveness to a very dangerous level indeed. And that is why senior people such as Nick Minchin have warned against the approach of this Leader of the Opposition and those who sit behind him.

I know that many of them are very uncomfortable with the actions of the opposition—very uncomfortable indeed. There was even the issue of the disclosure of the committee that met last night, where you had, to his great credit, Mr Secker agreeing with Yvette D'Ath, the chair, in terms of the reference on that issue. So you have people who have stood up for integrity of process, as did the member for Canning, to his great credit. But what we see continually is a preparedness to trash any rule whatsoever. This bloke is not a conservative; he is just a reactionary.

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