Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Oh my goodness. You had one go. Apart from just this need to reassure the confidence, if the government is so certain, put up. And what we also see, as we're examining the inadequate disclosures, the cover-up, of government MPs, is that now they're saying: 'We've got this document. We've got that document.' Well, the member for Batman's looking for his documents, but we're not using that as an excuse not to refer to the High Court. We are prepared to do that, as we should do.

The government says, though, 'This is just tit for tat.' He talks about a spurious argument about fairness. I think he thinks fairness is always a spurious argument. But what we are prepared to do is this. Even though we are confident in our position, we recognise that a time has come in the conduct of the parliament to build the confidence of the Australian people. The time has come for no more excuses. The people of Australia want to see the detail.

We put forward a disclosure system. You agreed to the disclosure system. You have not honoured the disclosure system. It is not sufficient for the Prime Minister to simply say, 'I know best. You in Labor should know your place.' It is not sufficient for the Prime Minister to say, 'We will send your members to the High Court, but you'll have to take our word on our members.' We don't take your word. You have been wrong before. So, in supporting this resolution, we make it very clear: we do so because we need a circuit breaker to rebuild the confidence of the Australian people. And to all of those government MPs who say, 'We have nothing to show here. We've got nothing to hide here,' I say to you: the Australian people don't believe us. They don't believe that this parliament is functioning as it should. The Prime Minister says they don't believe Labor. I want to tell our Prime Minister: come down from your ivory tower and smell the grass; it is real out there. The people are not happy with the conduct of this parliament. We put this forward. We invite you to join us in this resolution. The Australian people say, 'It makes sense.'

The government of this country have failed to adequately disclose. They had their opportunity. They haven't done it. I know there have been plenty of government MPs saying, 'I will find you this document now and I will find you that document'. All I say is: find the documents for the High Court. The nation needs certainty that all of its members of parliament are constitutionally elected. We've had lecture after lecture after lecture from the Prime Minister. He said the High Court is the ultimate arbiter. We agree. And if this government has nothing to hide from the Australian people, join this referral of members of this parliament to the High Court, because if we have nothing to hide then we have nothing to fear.

See this speech in context