Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Legislation has been introduced. When I last looked, I found it had not been voted on, although the state parliament has been sitting for two weeks. Perhaps it happened today and I have not caught up with it. They certainly did not rush to it. The whole point of it is that a government of Australia decided that if a council had the temerity to have a plebiscite on its own future it would be fined; if it did not pay the fine it would be thrown into jail. That is what this legislation overrides. I am very proud that Mr Howard and our government took this particular issue on and, hopefully, in doing that, we forced Mr Beattie and Ms Bligh to change their minds. I think they changed their minds because, after threatening to take it to the High Court, they knew that, it did not matter what happened, we would do it. So they said: ‘We’re done for a penny. We’re done for a pound. We might as well roll over.’ They introduced the bill and rammed it through state parliament in one week and they changed their mind the next week. Why? Because the federal government said it would override it. That is what this bill is all about.

I am delighted that for once we have had words of praise from the Greens. I acknowledge that this particular bill has the support of the Labor Party, the Democrats and the Greens, and, of course, that this is a Liberal Party and a National Party bill. It is a delight to see this going ahead. I think it is a major step forward for the freedom of speech in our country.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a third time.