Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to follow my colleague Senator McGrath and his contribution concerning an Australian Defence Force covenant. It is a concept which he has told me about before, and I do hope, as he does, that it can be taken up by all political parties. Senator McGrath also mentioned that it has been three months since his first speech, as it has been for me. I can honestly say that every day I get to spend in this place is an absolute privilege and an honour. In my own small way, I hope I have contributed to some of the debates in that time on issues like rural debt and a new live cattle export facility at Rockhampton—another issue I am trying to progress—and also to various committee inquiries, such as the NDIS, Northern Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, which I am fortunate enough to be on.

I see with all of that work there is enough to keep me busy in the chamber. I do not really need to go looking for other people's problems. I find it regrettable tonight that we have established an inquiry that is principally about trying to solve other people's problems and not about trying to do the job that we have been put here to do. So I think it is regrettable that the Palmer party's senators, who are new senators just like James and I, have chosen to use their time to in effect waste their time on an inquiry that is not going to deliver any tangible results to the Australian people. They are going to waste a lot of time on a political witch-hunt that has nothing to do with trying to pass laws in this place that are going to make people's lives better. Let us be clear about exactly what this inquiry is about. The inquiry that has been established is all about the Palmer party trying to get some revenge on a Queensland government that they do not like. If they did not like that Queensland government they had a very simple solution available to them under our democracy—that is, to run for the Queensland parliament. If they did not like the Queensland government they could have run for the Queensland parliament. They did not do that.

They ran for the federal parliament last September, and they were elected to the federal parliament. Since they have been elected to the federal parliament, they should be focused on federal issues—and they are clearly not doing that. I find this greatly regrettable, because we all have limited time in this place. It is a great honour to be here, but we have a limited number of days here. There is limited time in which all 76 of us can contribute, and we have to share that time. So for that time to be wasted on this political witch-hunt is, I think, an absolute waste.

The other big project which we know the member for Fairfax, Clive Palmer, is engaged in at the moment is building a new Titanic. Clive Palmer wants to build TitanicII. I do not know whether he is going to be able to build it. I think it is a pretty enormous objective to try and replicate that ship 100 years on, but at the very least I think he might have succeeded here tonight because the inquiry that has been established is going to follow the course a little like the original Titanic. It is a big project. It terms of reference is massive. It is overloaded. It is going to head out on the stormy waters to see if it can get to some kind of destination. I do not think it is going to get there. I think it is going to finish just like the first Titanic: it is going to be wrecked on the shores of great ambition and, ultimately, it will get nowhere. There will be a lot of people who get hurt in the process and principally among them will be the Labor Party and the Greens, who have decided to support this venture. This is consistent with how the Labor Party and the Greens have approached matters in the last few years. They will get into bed with any other political party who they view will give them an opportunity to progress their political cause. They have no principles on the other side of this place. They are willing to get into bed with the Palmer party to create a new Titanic, if you like. Senator Conroy, who supported the motion, is playing the role of Leonardo DiCaprio in this new movie, and Senator Milne from the Greens party is Kate Winslet. They are joining together. They are getting into bed once again to head out on this new journey on the Titanic. It is apt that Leonardo deCaprio played a role in the Titanic, being the converted Green that he is. Not only that, this movie is being financed and produced by none other than the member for Fairfax. He is the James Cameron in this saga. He is hoping that the box office proceeds will be just as good as those for the first Titanic. I think he might be right there.

I agree with Senator O'Sullivan, who contributed to the debate earlier on the motion for this inquiry. I think this inquiry is going to be a bit a show. I say to the people of Queensland and Australia: 'Get your popcorn ready, because this is going to be a bit of fun.' I went to see Titanic twice, I think. I went once with a young lady. It did not turn out to be much. It certainly was not my wife at the time. I had to suffer through those three hours or however long it was. You might remember it, Mr President. In my view, it was quite a long-winded movie, but I was willing to suffer it that night. I do not think this inquiry will be as bad as that. I think it is going to be a little bit more exciting than the movie.

The topic matter that we have to work with on this inquiry is quite thrilling and exhilarating, because, as Senator O'Sullivan pointed out before, the way the terms of reference have been worded very clearly allow this newly established inquiry to look into the matters of the former Queensland Labor government, including the Bligh government. When you look at the inquiry's terms of reference, clause 1(a) limits matters to Commonwealth funds allocated to the state of Queensland since 26 March 2012, but then subclauses (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) as well as the new clause 2 on coal seam gas that was inserted are not limited by that time frame at all. So the committee can look at all the decisions of previous Queensland governments, including Labor governments—