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

What more really needs to be said after that speech, except perhaps to defend Senator Heffernan and say what an effective representative, in every sense of the term, he is for the people of New South Wales. Senator Faulkner is correct. We are debating a motion to set aside the whole program of the Senate so that we can debate and vote on this ridiculous motion from Senator Brown.

Senator Brown's talk about anyone disobeying the rules is so hypocritical it makes me almost breathless. Senator Brown of course made his career by breaching the law. Even as recently as the Convoy of No Confidence came down from the north and from all over Australia, Senator Brown was reported as saying what a hopeless lot they were: 'They have not blockaded anything.' According to Senator Brown, unless you are breaking the law you are no longer relevant.

I have been here long enough to remember when it was a requirement to wear jackets into this chamber. Senator Brown would continually come in here without a jacket for no other reason than to break the law. It was drawn to the attention of the chair—