Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

The people of Australia can no longer believe the Prime Minister when he confidently tells the House what the High Court will and will not hold. It's why three weeks ago we reached an agreement with the Prime Minister and the government on how we would handle the ongoing citizenship turmoil which is racking this place. All members and senators were to lodge a return which discloses information about their dual citizenship and provides all the information for the parliament to make an honest assessment about that.

All Labor members of this House have fulfilled their obligations and provided all the information necessary. Sadly, all Liberal and National Party MPs have not done the same thing. It's time for the Prime Minister to end his smug indifference to the deal that was struck and to the concerns of the Australian people. The Australian people are sick of the circus. The Prime Minister should join with Labor members and members of the Greens party and the crossbench, who were willing—against, in some instances, their own personal interests—to have a bipartisan referral from this House to ensure that the circus would end. It's time for the Prime Minister to end his smug indifference. It just shows once again how out of touch he is with the will of the Australian people.

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