Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to use this opportunity to talk about a topic that has been raised several times in question time this week. It is a very important topic to be raised in a parliament that was born in a conversation on integrity. At multiple stages this week in question time, the Minister for Home Affairs has chosen to refer to a review of governance of the administration and regional processing arrangements conducted by Mr Richardson and has repeatedly used the opportunity to make the suggestion that somehow this report in some way condemns the actions of the Leader of the Opposition. The suggestion from her comments appears to be that there is some great conspiracy discovered by this report of some horrible and terrible action—so horrible and terrible the details of which can't quite be laid clear, not even here under the security of parliamentary privilege. But in some way these allegations and horrible things that must have been done are contained within this report. What has been extraordinary is, despite the forcefulness and the passion of these speeches about this review, the media simply haven't been interested.

It is important to have a look at what Mr Richardson actually said about his report, because there is a clear distance between the line that the Minister of Home Affairs has been taking on and what the actual author of the report has come to say. If we turn to the Guardianthat great bastion of far-Right intellectual thought—what does the coverage of Mr Richardson's report there? It says:

Richardson said he had seen no 'evidence of any ministerial involvement in the regional processing contract or procurement decisions, and the secretary of home affairs said he never discussed such decisions with the minister for home affairs'.

The article then quotes Richardson as saying, 'We did not come across any matter of deliberate wrong-doing or criminality.' You could not have a clearer statement that completely contradicts the position that the Minister for Home Affairs has taken.

Let's take a slight little jump to the right and go to the Sydney Morning Herald, which said: 'Richardson's report said the inquiry did not find any evidence of ministerial involvement in the regional processing contract or procurement decision'—again, confirming what we know, that the suggestion, not quite allegations but the suggestions that in some way the Leader of the Opposition acted in any way inappropriately is completely dismissed by the author and covered both in the Guardian and the SMH. If we take one further step to the right, to The Australian, which says, '"Mr Richardson's report tied the failures to "senior people within Home Affairs", but did not lay any blame on opposition leader Peter Dutton.'" Despite all of these papers quite clearly stating that there is no link to be made between the Leader of the Opposition and any inappropriate behaviour, that there is no suggestion by the author that the Leader of the Opposition behaved in any inappropriate way, this has continued all week. We must ask ourselves why. Why would a senior frontbencher in the government be willing to abandon any and all principles in the pursuit of political gain? Why would integrity not matter one iota in covering this report? Unfortunately, there is no other answer than this is pure theatrical politics. Those opposite are using it because they are hurting in the polls. Clearly, the coming by-election needs a bit of a lift. Clearly, the government is having a look at the net approval ratings of the Prime Minister, which have been lurching downwards, and those of the Leader of the Opposition, which have been gradually, steadily and consistently going upwards, and have seen the threat that the credible government he will bring presents to them.

I will finish on this: the hypocrisy of a government that is willing to sit there and pretend that a report makes a suggestion of poor behaviour by the Leader of the Opposition and then raises a misinformation bill. Absolute shame!