Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I start my contribution on this motion I cannot help but reflect on the final presentation by Senator Lines, who clutching her heart indicated that she was scared about the debt of Western Australia of $41 billion. I do not know where she got her fright from, but it was not Western Australia. It might have had something to do with the $320 billion that you yoked the neck of this nation with when Labor were in power. I have no idea why she is frightened of a little tree snake in WA when she left a dirty, big mongrel python crawling around in this part of the nation. I promised myself that I was going to make a quiet and constructive contribution, but this hypocrisy gets to me eventually.

I do not often point out to the Australian Labor Party where they have gone wrong, but I do want to give them some advice on drafting these motions. When I read this motion in my office I thought that finally the Australian Labor Party wanted to have a discussion with us about infrastructure and public transport. I have not seen any sign of it in the last couple of years. We come into question time time and time again—and I am noted for interjecting on this subject and calling out: 'Are you going to talk about education? Infrastructure? Are you going to ask us a question about health?' But I get no, no and no.

So here is my advice for you. When you drafted this motion you should have said, 'That the Senate condemns the failure of the Turnbull government to invest in public transport in marginal seats in Western Australia.' You forgot to put in the motion 'marginal seats in Western Australia'. Here is what was a bit of a clue for me. I came in here and saw the speakers list and saw that every Labor contribution was to come from a Western Australian senator. I scratched my noggin and wondered why that would be so. I am a bit slow on things, but then it dawned on me that there must be a state election in the west.

In the contribution by Senator Lines she drew the boundaries around suburbs. This was not a general question. This was not a reflection across the nation. She went street by street, if you listened very carefully. I say, as I lead into my contribution on this, that that is a complete abuse of this place. It is a complete abuse that the Labor Party would engineer to devote the time of this Senate to direct politicking in a state election campaign in their home state. You need to be condemned for it.