Glenn Lazarus (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry. I apologise. The Prime Minister and his team continue to lurch from one catastrophe to another. Every morning the people of Australia wake up to yet another colossal Prime Ministerial stuff-up—Choppergate, knighthoods, pension cuts, GP co-payments, and same-sex marriage. The Heydongate saga is just another stuff-up in the growing pile of Prime Ministerial and government stuff-ups. I am of the view that a royal commissioner must be impartial and independent of political associations. Based on this, Dyson Heydon's position is untenable and he must step down in order to restore community confidence in the trade union royal commission. I should add that I am strongly of the view that the trade union royal commission is nothing more than a political attack on the health and future of unionism across Australia.

There are many areas of our community where we desperately do need royal commissions, and the CSG mining sector is one of them. Across our country, farmers and landholders are being decimated by the impact of CSG mining. CSG mining is killing animals, poisoning our water, depleting our water supplies, devastating land values and affecting human health. Why won't the government establish a royal commission into the human impact of CSG mining? It is because CSG mining companies donate to the coalition.

Dyson Heydon must go and the need for the trade union royal commission must be re-assessed. As I keep saying, I cannot keep the government honest but I can keep them accountable. If the Abbott government have any respect for the people of Australia they will act swiftly to remove commissioner Heydon.