Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In that case, what I will say is this: the conduct of Senator Macdonald as the Chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee risks bringing that committee and this Senate as a whole into significant disrepute in the minds of the Australian people. We have seen Senator Macdonald trying to evict me from that committee for doing my job as a senator representing the Tasmanian people and the Australian people, trying to prevent me from asking questions and trying to prevent me from holding the government to account.

The Australian people have witnessed the difference in the way he conducts himself with regard to some witnesses that have appeared before that committee and the contrast in that behaviour with the behaviour he engages in with regard to government ministers who are appearing as witnesses before that committee. If you look at the 14th edition of Odgers, it says, on page 462, this:

It is in the … committee] room that careful, calm consideration can be brought to bear upon a subject, and [senators] can work harmoniously in spite of party differences.

We are in danger of not meeting that standard. We are in danger of undermining public confidence in the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee as a result of the way that that committee is chaired.

With regard to citizenship legislation, which is part of this report, the bill is nothing other than an attempt to remake Australia in Peter Dutton's narrow-minded and bigoted image. It is aimed at demonising—