Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

We know in this place that censure motions are rare. They are rare because only at very special times do people feel as though responsible ministers have lost the faith of the people in this parliament. In terms of the process, it is always difficult. I know that Senator Abetz in his contribution said that, if you went out into the wider area, you would find people who would actually be supporting what is happening with concern about the role of human rights, and particularly the role of the Human Rights Commissioner. He also said that you would find that people would be supporting the government in their process. It is always difficult to speak on behalf of the Australian people, but what I can say is that, over the last couple of weeks, there has been an amazing response from people across this country through techniques that I do not always watch—that is, letters to the editor, talkback radio and comments to parliamentarians, where people have been expressing concern about what they have been perceiving as an attack—a personal attack—on an office bearer rather than focusing on the issues about which there may well be concerns from the government.

This is not the first time that the work of the Human Rights Commission and individual commissioners, and indeed presidents, has—