Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Hansard source

This will be the last comment I make upon this. I was just reflecting upon the fact that Peter Costello, who for a large number of years was the Treasurer in this place and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, had a great-great-grandfather who was the Mayor of North Melbourne. He was jailed, and it was simply nothing more than bitter, brutal infighting inside the labour party. It was nothing except internal fights within the labour party, and he went to jail. That was the great-great-grandfather of Peter Costello. John Maitland, the head of my union, the CFMEU, and one of the great industrial leaders of this nation in recent years, went to jail for two years—again, just an internal fight within the Labor Party, and he got caught in the crossfire. I think probably the most telling case was that of Graham Richardson. I did disclosures in this place, and the information I disclosed was given to me by two Labor members of parliament. So, again, people are going to jail and being destroyed as a result of political machinations.

I think the thing where the member for Indi's proposals bite deepest—and I will conclude on this note—is that, when I realised that the police were going to put me in jail, I rang up Premier Bjelke-Petersen, who I enjoyed a very close relationship with.

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