Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Can I argue, on indulgence, for the benefit of the House. I wish to protect your position, Madam Speaker, and I think you have been placed in an impossible position. I believe there has been a set-up orchestrated by members opposite. I think you have been placed in a very embarrassing position. I think you have been placed in a humiliating position by the Leader of the House and by the member who put this MPI forward, obviously never intending to bring it to debate today, obviously intending to deny the opportunity for the opposition to raise a perfectly legitimate matter of public importance. I am embarrassed, I am ashamed, that you have been put in this position by this Leader of the House and by the absent member, and I believe the only way to protect the dignity of the parliament is for you, Madam Speaker, to revise that decision on the floor from the chair and to put this matter of public importance that I submitted now.

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