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

I just could not believe it when the Greens decided that if the motion Senator Lazarus moved last week was to be at all fair, it should not just look at a particular government; it should look at any recent government in Queensland. So Senator Abetz moved, and the Greens, much to my surprise, supported, an amendment that said that not only would we look at the current Queensland government but we would look at the previous one as well—the one that actually introduced coal seam gas mining into Queensland, the one that had the Tahitian prince ripping off millions of dollars and the one that had a cabinet minister sent to jail for bribery.

Sure, go ahead and look at the Campbell Newman government! I, quite frankly, have no problem with looking into the Campbell Newman government, because it is an honest government that is full of integrity. But what we were looking forward to was using the inquiry to look into the actions of the Palmer United Party and Mr Clive Palmer—and the threats that he may or may not have made to the Deputy Premier of Queensland over whether or not there was a railway line to his mine. I am quite happy to look into that part of Campbell Newman's government, but what about the Labor Party government, the one with cabinet ministers actually in jail for bribery and with Tahitian princes ripping off $10 million?

When the Greens supported Senator Abetz's amendment, I thought, 'At last the Greens, most of whom I know and most of whom I have great respect for, have seen sense and have agreed to include the rotten Bligh Labor administration.' I looked over and I thought, 'Why do the Greens have this new-found openness and accountability?' Then I noticed that Senator Milne was not there. Senator Milne is an effective operator on some occasions, some might say, but her pathological hatred for anything on our side of the parliament is known to every single person.

So we had this farcical situation last week where the majority of the Greens said, 'Okay, let's have an inquiry, but let's bring in the government that actually introduced coal seam gas mining into Queensland.' Perhaps there were some dirty deals there, perhaps done with my namesake, the Labor minister Ian Macdonald from New South Wales, who used to hand out mining leases with his morning tea to all his mates in the union movement. I thought, 'Well, that's fair enough; let's have a look at the Bligh government as well as the Newman government.' But then the penny dropped and the Labor Party suddenly realised that a motion that they had been planning to support was now going to expose the Bligh Labor government to real accountability.

Now we have this farcical situation. The substance of the motion being proposed is exactly the same as the last one. It is all about Mr Palmer's hatred of Mr Campbell Newman. That is the substance of it. You can add all the little words you like. If Senator Waters says that this is a new issue, I am sure she will want to include the Labor government again, because—I repeat—it was the Labor government that introduced coal seam gas mining into Queensland, the coal seam gas mining that Senator Waters is so concerned about. As I mentioned last week, this makes a farce of the whole parliamentary system. I cannot believe that the more sensible and rational people in the Labor Party are going along with this farcical, fraudulent situation.