Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to this article in The Sydney Morning Herald which states that a whistleblower told Fairfax Media that another detainee had been released into the community only two weeks after threatening to kill staff in a rooftop protest. The whistleblower said:

This person could be your next door neighbour.

Does the Prime Minister agree that this is satisfactory detention, and will she include this incident in the inquiry that she referred to the inspector general yesterday?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we are seeing today—and I think this question has absolutely crystallised it—is that there the opposition have been over several days trying to raise fear in the community. They have gone on and on and on, and now, of course, their source for questions in question time in the Australian parliament is a newspaper clipping from an anonymous source. They have no ability to check the veracity of what is claimed. Presumably the next question will come from trawling the outer reaches of the internet and finding what kooks and cranks on the outer reaches of the internet have got to say. They will rush in here and present that as something worth hearing about on national security. Doesn't that just go to the difference between being a responsible government and being an opposition driven by slogan and spin.

To the shadow minister—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition is laughing now. Here is his big attack on national security—'Oh, it's so hard-hitting!' He's such a serious man! He's prime ministerial material! And in the middle of a question time on national security he is laughing. It is just a game to you, isn't it? Your demeanour shows it. The fact that you are laughing shows it. The fact that the shadow minister who asked the question is spending the answer looking up at the press gallery and laughing shows it. The chatter across the opposition shows it. It has been a game all week, and in this question it is transparently a game. You have come into this parliament suggesting something is worthy of inquiry and report when you have got absolutely no knowledge of its truthfulness.

To the shadow minister: if he genuinely thinks this is worth the time of the inspector general then he should submit it to her. When he does that he should say to her: 'I know nothing about it. I read it in the newspaper. I don't know who the source of the complaint is. I've got absolutely no knowledge about it. I've got no concern about it. But I played a little question time stunt with it, so I'm forwarding it through.' That is the degree of concern of the opposition about national security matters. Gee, at the end of the week it's pretty embarrassing for the opposition it's come to this!