Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Put it this way, Senator Sherry, if I were to pick which of the Liberal and Labor Party polling results I would prefer, I would easily go for the Liberal Party one. I do not want to get involved in Tasmanian politics. It is just a pity that Senator Polley cannot keep her invective for, perhaps, the Greens who are overtaking the Labor Party in Tasmania rather than direct it at me just when I was reporting what a constituent of Senator Ronaldson has said about the Prime Minister and called him Prime Minister Blah Blah. If rules did not prevent it I would have thought that was a great terminology, but I know I am not allowed to say that. I think the person who coined the phrase, Prime Minister Blah Blah, was very, very astute.

I have been misdirected here. I was simply saying that this is a government that is guided by the media cycle, by the blah blah, but when it comes to action it is rushed action, it is for actions that are not consulted. Indeed, the notice of motion, which is on the Notice Paper, I hear is not going to be dealt with. I hope that it might be dealt with because I am fascinated as to why this is being brought forward three or four weeks before it could have been dealt with anyhow by the government. Perhaps the government are so busy running around trying to pick up the mess left by Mr Garrett that they have not even bothered to work out that they could have brought it back six months later had they wanted to. Of course if they do bring it back six months later I can indicate that, if it is the same regulation they are going to impose, unless they have a brand new argument that convinces us of the unsafety of the situation that now exists, the coalition would again be opposing it. I mention it in relation to the Aviation Transport Security Amendment (2009 Measures No. 2) Bill 2009 which we are discussing today, because it is—