Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the speech prior to question time from the member for Dawson, in which he criticised actions by state governments to secure the health of Australians, referred to it as 'police states complete with medical apartheid', compared them with 'Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot', and, most concerning, at the end of his speech, said:

The solution is a rediscovery of human dignity, along with—and I don't say this lightly—civil disobedience.

Will the Prime Minister unequivocally and without reservation condemn this call for civil disobedience from his government member for Dawson?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a son of a police officer, I believe that everyone should obey the law. Every single person should obey the law, and no-one should encourage anyone to disobey the law—no-one. I don't care if they're in this House or anywhere else. And I, indeed, would condemn any encouragement whatsoever, by any person in any place, regarding acts of civil disobedience. That is not something I would encourage. That's not something I would participate in. And I don't think I can be any clearer than that.

I have been very clear in my denunciation of violence and threats and intimidation, and I don't care whether that has occurred most recently or where it happened at the Shrine of Remembrance or, indeed, when people and Labor unions tried to crash through the doors of this building many years ago. Every single time I have seen this, I find it appalling. I find it appalling, and I don't think it is an issue that those opposite should seek to play politics with.