Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a one-minute statement.

Leave granted.

I thank the Senate. The Australian Christian Lobby enjoys a supporter base of tens of thousands of our fellow Australians. To falsely describe—and, one assumes, thereby malign, offend and humiliate—the ACL by calling it an extremist fringe group is a display of intolerance and feeds ugly community division. For the Greens, of all people, to condemn a group as 'fringe' is a sad display of a lack of self-awareness on their part. In seeking to condemn others for attending an ACL forum, we see writ large not only the ugly underbelly of Green intolerance but their hypocrisy. You see, Mr President, the Greens have been known to participate in ACL forums to harness votes from this alleged extremist fringe group, including Mr Nick McKim from Tasmania. (Time expired)