Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I support some of the opposition's motion on this affair, but I can't vote with it. I believe that Senator Nash and the Deputy Prime Minister—Barnaby Joyce, the member for New England—should have been stood down by the Prime Minister in the way that Senator Canavan morally and ethically stood down. Senator Canavan had the Attorney-General standing alongside him as he took that proper action. I think what the government has done and is doing, maintaining the Deputy Prime Minister and Senator Nash in their positions, is wrong. But while they are there, it should now be left for the High Court to decide.