Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

fraud. I have never made that assertion, and I think Senator Murray acknowledges that. From time to time in the debate that goes on in this place, there will be occasions where we misinterpret each other or do not get the detail absolutely right. But when you have got somebody sentenced to a period of imprisonment for electoral fraud, you have to acknowledge and accept that there is electoral fraud.

When a former federal member of this parliament is exposed as having gotten himself onto the electoral roll before he was made an Australian citizen, you have to acknowledge that there is a problem with the robustness of people getting onto the electoral roll—I note that Family First in fact voted for those increases in integrity measures because Family First shares those views. But I did not want Senator Murray’s comments this morning to go uncontested.

In relation to Senator Milne’s comment, can I say that, once again, it is the Greens blaming everybody else other than themselves for their political misfortune. The simple fact is that when Christine Milne was the leader, as she then was, the Greens lost ground and a lot of seats in Tasmania. Under different leadership in Tasmania with a reduced parliament, the Greens increased their representations.