Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

of precedence being given. These issues and the process here are something that have existed for a long time. Effectively, this group that ran the last government and is now running the current opposition, no matter what they say about process and precedent, actually have no respect for it at all. That's exactly what we're seeing now. I've had lots of arguments with lots of Speakers over the years, but I've never seen a situation where a reference to privileges has been inappropriately dealt with by any Speaker. They always rely heavily on the professional advice available from the clerks. It's still their decision; I respect that. But it has always been done in the completely appropriate fashion. I've probably made more privileges references and tried my hand at this more than most people in the place. Some of them got over the line, and some didn't. But what I haven't done is then said, 'Well, if the umpire didn't call my way, then I'm going to kick up a bit of a stink about it.' That's all this resolution is.

With that in mind, I would also simply add this on the substance of what they're wanting to take issue with. All the words quoted were accurate, and they're saying the issue was that an abridged quote was used. Every single day in question time, these same people take points of order on relevance, and they can't even fully quote their own questions. They use an abridged quotation roughly two or three times every single day in question time. That's what they do, and they claim that, therefore, it can't be relevant, even though it might be relevant to something else that we're doing. Maybe that's why their hearts are not in this motion.

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

Well, it's hard to get worked up over wet lettuce!

Opposition members interjecting—

I accept there are many different forms of parliamentary tactics, but the Manager of Opposition Business is a master at the phrase 'killing someone with boredom'. So, yes—we take that hit! But, other than that, this is a pretty lame attempt, and we'll be voting against it.

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