Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate David Crisafulli, the new Premier in Queensland, and the Liberal National Party on a successful state election on 26 October. With a majority LNP government, the future looks brighter for Queensland.

I want to highlight to the Australian people what was occurring throughout the election campaign. Verbal abuse, name-calling and mocking are what Ariana Doolan, the 22-year-old LNP candidate that won the seat of Pumicestone, experienced. She had to deal with this for two weeks on prepoll from the former Labor MP Ali King. She stated to this 22-year-old woman daily: 'You are nothing. You stand for nothing and have no values. You should be ashamed of yourself'—this is what this 22-year-old woman experienced from a so-called leader and Labor MP—'You're selling women's bodies by joining the LNP. You're too inexperienced and young.'

Terry Young MP, the member for Longman, witnessed this pack mentality of the Labor MP and her supporters, who said, 'You don't deserve to be here.' This is what the former state Labor member Ali King said to Ariana, and it was a disgrace. Personal, nasty abuse in life or politics is unacceptable and shows what hypocrites some Labor MPs are when it comes to the treatment of young women and other candidates. I'm deeply sorry that Ariana had to experience this. However, she has won the seat of Pumicestone and will be the youngest woman ever elected in Queensland.