Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think the important point that Senator Duniam touched on here is: let's get the facts on the record. I couldn't agree more. Let's get Senator O'Sullivan in the chamber to make a statement about these important issues. That's a sure-fire way we can get the facts on the record. The reality is that he has not addressed them. There have been numerous questions put to the government and they, as well, have failed to address them. I'd love nothing more than to get on with it and talk about other issues. But integrity is so important.

The question marks over this government around section 44 are so important. They go to the very heart of this government's decision-making. We know the Nationals have a problem with section 44 of the Constitution. Two other senators, Senator Canavan and Senator Nash, have a problem with section 44. We know the Deputy Prime Minister in the other place has a problem with section 44, as does Senator O'Sullivan. For those opposite who have a bit of a whine about wanting us to ask other questions, the answer is easy: give Senator O'Sullivan a ring and get him to come here and put on the record what he knows about this. The reality is that he has not done that and he won't do that, and the government won't come forth either.

There have been a number of questions that raised serious concerns last week and this week that the government have failed to answer. These have been questions around the contracts that Newlands Civil Construction have won, how many contracts there have been and how much money they are worth. From questioning that we have put and from what we have been able to identify, so far we know that three projects that have federal input have been won by Newlands Civil Construction: the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements in Emerald, and the Warrego Highway west of Brisbane. All up, we know that this company has done more than $6 million worth of work that has a federal contracting influence. But, when we have put questions to Senator Brandis and Senator Nash, the lack of answers only raised further alarms with us about the way in which the government has been dealing with this matter.

It would be easy for Senator O'Sullivan to come in here and clear this up a very quickly. But what has Senator O'Sullivan done? Recently, he changed his entry on the pecuniary interest register and failed to make a comprehensive statement to the Senate on these concerns. We know from Minister Chester, his own National Party colleague in the other place, who is in the cabinet—and I think this is very illustrative—that this is an issue that needs to be explained. This is coming from someone on his own side, a National Party minister in government, who is saying that Senator O'Sullivan needs to explain.

We will continue to pursue this because of the failure of the government to have answers and also because of the actions of Senator O'Sullivan. What are those actions? Why can't they come up and tell us the number of projects that Newlands Civil Construction has won that have federal government influence in them, the amount of money these contracts are worth and what the government have done about these serious allegations. These are the themes of the questions that we put to Senator Brandis and Senator Nash today and also raised in this place last week. But, so far, the government have been dismissive and have failed to answer the substantive nature of these questions.

When you look at the way they treated the questions that we put in the chamber today, it's easy to see why they have become embroiled in so much controversy over section 44. They really fail to do their homework. They fail to realise the seriousness of the allegations and, therefore, they pay the price. This leads to the chaos and dysfunction that we see from the government. We see it when it comes to the ministers and their failure to tackle the important policy challenges around section 44. When those opposite come in here to take note of answers, they talk about why they want questions on the serious policy challenges, but they're a government that are unable to deal with such questions because of the chaos that they face around the potential ineligibility of three senators—two when it comes to citizenship and one when it comes to the pecuniary interests of Senator O'Sullivan. So, when the government have opportunities to answer questions about Senator O'Sullivan throughout the rest of this week, it really is incumbent on them to have a look at what they have done in this regard and come into this chamber prepared to go on the record about contracts from which Senator O'Sullivan's company has benefited.

Question agreed to.