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

A contribution made in this place earlier today by Senator Watt, the Labor senator for Queensland, in, again, an almost grubby personal attack by the senator on another member of the parliament, a senator in this place, is starting to show a trend. I have not seen that before in this Senate in my three-plus years. I urge everybody to keep a focus on Senator Watt's contribution of playing the person and not the issue—not challenging policy but playing the individuals. It is a very disturbing trend appearing in his behaviour in this place. This is a big boys and girls' sandpit and we are all used to the strong rough-and-tumble of politics in this place, but Senator Watt's colleagues need to have a yarn to him to explain to him that personal politics has no place in this chamber. This is the second attack that he has made in the last two sitting weeks of this parliament, and it is a very unsavoury practice and one that he should reflect upon. Perhaps it is clear that his skill base does not allow him to make the argument on facts and on policy issues, and perhaps some of his colleagues could provide him with some support and education so that he can lift the standard of his contributions in this place.

Let us make no mistake about the fundamental objective of Senator Watt and the Labor Party and, indeed, a new coalition between the Labor opposition and the Greens on the crossbench. This has one single objective in life, and that is to ensure that there is no further development of the coal industry in my home state of Queensland. I urge all Queenslanders to look very thoroughly at the motives behind Senator Watt and his colleagues in the Greens and what they are doing. Every single aspect is directed at inhibiting the growth of the Galilee Basin, the growth that will come with NAIF—the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility—the development of the rail line and all of the massive benefits that will flow to my constituency in Queensland.

When will the opposition in this place, including the Greens and the Labor Party, join with the government in a bipartisan approach to develop the economy of my home state and all the benefits that that will bring to the nation? The attack today, for example, in relation to NAIF and the appointment of directors to NAIF—