Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. I will get back to the freedom-of-speech issue, but there is evidence before the Electoral Commission that there were incidents that happened that prevented anyone from knowing—for example, so many cases of double voting that the candidates and the political parties were not even made aware of until well after the time for taking action in the Court of Disputed Returns. But more about that on another occasion. My reference to 'illegitimate' was as a member of parliament for that seat. That is not the right result. I called it an illegitimate result. I was certainly making no personal reflection on Ms O'Toole.

But back to the freedom of speech: Mr Acting Deputy President, quite frankly, I do not care if Ms O'Toole and her paid staff members campaign outside my office. I believe in freedom of speech. I would have thought that perhaps that is not what she and her staff are being paid for. She, I would have thought, would have had some more important work to do in Townsville, trying to help the hundreds and even thousands of young unemployed in that city rather than conducting a fake demonstration outside my office. What adds insult to injury, I might say, is that they always have these fake demonstrations when they know I am not in the town, when I am out somewhere else in Queensland representing my electors.

But I like free speech. If they want to have a demonstration outside my office, that is fine. I have not seen any of this in Townsville, but, if the Palaszczuk government is going to set the police on to preachers in the south-east of the state, then perhaps the Palaszczuk government should just think about these illegal, unlawful demonstrations outside the front of my office. I repeat: I do not give a damn about it. Nobody took much notice of them. Those who were interfered with as they walked up the street simply laughed at them. It was the CPSU—would you believe, Mr Acting Deputy President?—complaining about the reduction of penalty rates on a Sunday. Tell me which member of the CPSU works on a Sunday.