Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Today, we have seen an example of modern day McCarthyism, under the name of Malcolm Turnbull. Today, the royal commission has sought, by way of a 'notice to produce' order yesterday, the details of 9,000 Victorians who had the temerity to join a political party in this country. Under the notice to produce, the details that this commission has sought are the names, the addresses, the mobile, work and home phone numbers, the email addresses and whether or not they are members of a trade union. They were asked to provide that information to the royal commission for 9,000 Victorians, many of whom may be public servants, who may not wish these matters to be disclosed, members of the Australian Defence Force, or police or nurses, and they do not want these matters to be disclosed.

This is an absolute outrage and the Prime Minister stands condemned. This Prime Minister likes to talk about liberty and individual freedom. He has a chance now to stand up here, condemn the commission's actions and shut down this commission. It is an abuse of executive power under the name of Malcolm Turnbull.

See this speech in context