Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I will, Mr Speaker. It does not surprise me that the member for Melbourne Ports comes to Senator Kitching's defence because the member for Melbourne Ports has been quite involved in this murky story—this very murky story. Goodness knows what his connections are! I might come to those tomorrow, Mr Speaker.

Senator Kitching was referred by the royal commission to the Commonwealth DPP for impersonating union officials and doing their safety tests for them—and bragging about it. She is a person who has been found by the Fair Work Commission to be an unreliable witness—publicly stated the case. This is also a person who failed to pay six and a half thousand dollars worth of parking fines to the Melbourne City Council. Six and a half thousand dollars worth of parking fines! Surely she would have noticed all those sticky clear plastic things stuck on the windscreen of her $94,000 leased BMW. It seems surprising to me that she would have been able to see through her windscreen, Mr Speaker, with six and a half thousand dollars worth of parking fines that she just had not noticed.

In Queensland the minister for agriculture, Leanne Donaldson, had to resign over $8,000 of unpaid rates to the Bundaberg City Council. In the Shorten world—in the Leader of the Opposition's world—they get put into the Senate. If you do not pay your parking fines, you get put into the Senate. (Time expired)

Mr Chester interjecting—

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