Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. I know Senator Heffernan is not a tender soul, but I am happy to withdraw. But I want it on the record: the Greens have just defended Senator Heffernan!

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN interjecting—

I really want to make sure it is on the record. Senator Heffernan protects the Greens; the Greens protect Senator Heffernan. I am with the program. Don't worry—we're with the program!

But I do think it is sad that you were not even invited to the meeting last night, Senator Whish-Wilson. You were not even invited into the room to make the case that you wanted to make. That is the sad part: when your leader runs rogue on you and leaves you sitting outside the door while he is inside, trying to pretend he is a mover and shaker and that he can get an outcome so that he can make himself important. Welcome, Senator McKim. I am not surprised that you are taking a higher profile since you came here, because it won't be long for you, don't worry; it won't be long for you. When your membership work out what you have done today, you will be able to say: 'It wasn't me. I wasn't invited either. The brains trust up the front of the chamber—this was their idea. We campaigned for two years. We had the numbers. We campaigned and we had the numbers. We had the government over a barrel, and then Senator Di Natale took charge.' You ran a fantastic campaign—a fantastic campaign. 'We had the numbers, and then the boss sold me out. The boss wandered in, without us'—without any of you there—'and they tickled his tummy, gave him a few Tim Tams, and they sold him the Harbour Bridge!' You have had to keep looking in the mirror, saying: 'It's a good deal. It's a good deal. It's a good deal'. You have had to convince yourself so that you can come in here today.

Senator Whish-Wilson cannot rewrite history. He cannot try and pretend that Labor has not been as committed as he has on this issue. There may have been genuine mistakes and things that went wrong on the floor the first time this came through, but we all worked to try and deliver to the Australian taxpayers the truth that the big end of town do not want revealed. There is nothing you can say today that will change the fact that you have accepted an argument that people whose companies earn over $200 million are in fear of being kidnapped if the truth was revealed! That is the only argument the government put forward, and you have now swallowed it and signed up to it. Even Senator Muir, a relative newcomer to the chamber, accepted, when he heard how silly that argument was, that it had to be changed. It had to be changed. But you, Senator Whish-Wilson, always knew that it was a complete and utter load of rubbish.

Apparently, your leader did not. Apparently, your leader fell for it. You let him out of your sight for five minutes and he has sold you down the drain. I could at least have some respect for your leader if he had invited you to come to the meeting. Were you afraid that he would embarrass you, Senator Di Natale? Were you afraid that Senator Whish-Wilson might actually not be quite so willing to roll over? I mean, really! You did not take your shadow spokesperson to this most important meeting even though he has campaigned on this for two years. To not be invited by your leader to the meeting, Senator Whish-Wilson—