John Watson (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Abetz. So much for that baseless allegation. Finally, the member for Denison, Mr Duncan Kerr, has been roped in to this dirty tricks effort. I say ‘roped in’ because I cannot believe that someone who is a senior counsel in the Supreme Court of Tasmania could actually for a moment believe what he has alleged or be completely comfortable in making those allegations, whether in parliament or not. Mr Kerr raised the matter of the website with the Speaker, alleging a contempt of parliament. Again, that was a totally baseless, muckraking exercise and it was beneath the character that I know the member for Denison possesses. The contents of any senator’s or member’s personal website are the personal responsibility of the senator or member concerned and theirs alone. When any person clicks on the link after the APH official biography for any member to go to the member’s website, the following caution appears:

You are now leaving the Parliament of Australia Web site. We have no control or responsibility for external sites.

Therefore, the member for Denison—or the people who forced the question on him—knew, or should have known, that it was nothing to do with the Speaker, just as any claims made by any senator or member on their websites are nothing to do with the Speaker or even you, Mr President. The Speaker has advised Mr Kerr that Mr Ferguson has no case to answer whatsoever. It is just more mud. It is just baseless mud. I am sure the decent Tasmanians who make up the Order of the British Empire Association—many of whom I know personally—know exactly why Mr Ferguson was awarded their service award. I am equally sure they would be unimpressed to be drawn into this political attack.

Finally, Senator O’Brien has put down a series of questions on notice about a particular church. He of course knows that counted among the large congregation of this church is the member for Bass. Because of that, Senator O’Brien unfortunately decided to proceed on an ill-advised witch-hunt about federal government funding the church may or may not have received. I do not know whether that particular church has received any federal grant. What would be wrong if they had? Quite frankly, I cannot see why Senator O’Brien, having never in his parliamentary career shown an interest in this area, suddenly decided to pursue this matter—except of course for the broader attack on Mr Ferguson. How unpleasant can you get—attacking any church purely because an MP might happen to attend it?

If this is their approach so far, I can imagine that Labor will ensure that things will get very nasty in the forthcoming Bass campaign. I think that is unfortunate. The electorate does not like these baseless personal attacks on a person’s integrity. Labor know that the previous federal member has decided on a state career and has been successfully elected to the state House of Assembly. I congratulate Michelle O’Byrne on that. However, without any high-profile candidate for Bass, Labor have reverted to the oldest trick in the political book: if you cannot beat your political opponent in a fair fight then raise as much smear, dirt and innuendo as you can. It does not of course matter to Labor whether it is true. They have the umbrella of parliamentary privilege to protect them from that. They will just be satisfied if they can smear the reputation of an exceptionally talented and hard-working politician. I know that, whatever Senator O’Brien and others do, Michael Ferguson will not be distracted. He will continue to fight for the people of Bass, in their interests and for their betterment. Tasmanians like robust political debate. They dislike like mud-slinging. On election day, I am quite confident the judgment of the electors of Bass will reflect that.