Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Isaacs from moving the following motion forthwith—That the House:

(1) notes:

(a) the Special Minister of State has admitted on 60 Minutes that he procured a Commonwealth officer to obtain unauthorised copies of the former Speaker's diary;

(b) the Special Minister of State has repeatedly misled the parliament and breached the Prime Minister's statement of ministerial standards; and

(c) the Special Minister of State still has questions to answer about his role in the Ashby affair;

(2) censures the Prime Minister:

(a) for leading a government in which ministers are permitted to breach the Prime Minister's own statement of ministerial standards by misleading the parliament without any repercussions or sanctions;

(b) for awarding the member for Fisher with a job on the front bench for his role as a key henchman in the overthrow of the former Prime Minister;

(c) for his atrocious judgement in appointing the member for Fisher as the minister with responsibility for government integrity; and

(d) for his complete and utter failure to show any leadership and sack the Special Minister of State.

I said yesterday that it was past time for this Special Minister of State to go. It has been time for him to go for days now. It is not clear why this Prime Minister has not put an end to this state of affairs yet. Perhaps he has had his hands full explaining to the world why he is pressing on with the—

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