Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for that ruling, Mr Acting Deputy President. I am nearly flattered. First, Senator Ronaldson raises a point of order that I should have a jacket on, which of course is no point of order, and then Senator Macdonald raises a point of order, and I think Senator McGauran was about to jump to his feet, too. I am flattered that they want to try to shut me up, but we need to come back to Senator Ronaldson’s unhealthy obsession with Mr Cheeseman. He is so annoyed about the Labor Party winning that seat after 76 years, because the Liberal Party took that seat for granted. They did nothing for it in their last 11 years in government, and they lost it. What really gets under Senator Ronaldson’s skin now is the fact that Mr Cheeseman is everywhere in the electorate and he is driving Senator Ronaldson absolutely mad. The trouble is that Senator Ronaldson has a candidate and they are trying to make some inroads against Mr Cheeseman and they are failing dismally. Of course, this is a reflection on Senator Ronaldson, because he has been given the difficult task by the state branch of the Liberal Party to try to win that seat back. It must be frustrating for Senator Ronaldson to be trying to make inroads to a seat where there is now a new, youthful, energetic member who is working hard and actually delivering for the constituents of Corangamite—he is everywhere.

You mentioned you were going to talk about some other issues, Senator Ronaldson. I think I can guess what they are, and I will be ready—you know I am ready. It may be about the Colac Herald once again—there have been some more headlines—and I am sure we will have a good discussion about that. But the document we are talking about is the Department of Climate Change annual report—