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

I can understand why you don't want this read in the parliament. He says of the 2013 election: 'Most apparently the Palmer United Party and the Liberal Democrats won substantial votes and won Senate seats that they are not likely to be able to replicate in future elections'—my apologies, Senator Leyonhjelm; he does not realise the impact you have made, but that is what the Parliamentary Library said—'due to lost electoral support evident in recent polls and by-elections.'

He goes on to model it and, believe it or not, comes up with: 'The Palmer United Party are going to win a quota again.' Nobody on the planet believes that; even he does not believe that. He actually writes earlier that that is not the case. So what will happen to those votes in this system? We know what will happen. They will go back where they came from, mostly from the Liberal Party. If he is right about Senator Leyonhjelm they will probably return to the pretence of the Liberal Party called the Liberal Party. That is what this debate has always been about—Greens bums on seats. (Time expired)