Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have never heard a more lame, lacklustre, lazy or loose defence of any government decision in the 13 months that I have been in this Senate than I have heard this afternoon. Unless I heard incorrectly, I do not think I heard the words 'fairness', 'fair go', 'democratic values' or 'integrity' from any of the speakers on the other side with regard to this matter. That was a shameful exercise in our democracy. We heard Labor senators talk about the government's prerogative to fund the campaign. I want to hear about the government's responsibility to fund the campaign equally. We heard about Labor senators defending the decision to allocate funding based solely on the decision of the House of Representatives. Labor senators could not even defend their own role in the democratic process.