Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Isn't it telling that the Australian Labor Party, in moving after question time that the Senate take note of an answer, should deal in pure politics and not policy. They have an incapacity to deal with the issues confronting the Australian people, like jobs, job creation and the cost of living. And why don't they want to address those issues? Because they know that their track record in Queensland is abysmal, and therefore they will seek to talk about any issue other than those that really matter to the Australian people and, on this occasion, to the people of Queensland. It was interesting that the Labor senator opposite referred to the contest that is about to occur in the seat of Bennelong between that excellent Liberal candidate John Alexander and another former, failed Labor Premier. It reminds me of that former, failed Labor Premier Peter Beattie, who tried to contest a seat in Queensland and failed. Similarly, Kristina Keneally, the Labor candidate in Bennelong, should also fail because she was a failed Premier in New South Wales, leading the Labor Party to the biggest defeat ever of any political party in that state. Of course, she had under her nose and served with three ministers that were referred for corruption. So thank you for the opportunity to remind the electors of Bennelong not to worry about the nonsense that the Labor senator talked about and to remind them of the quality of candidates that they can choose between at the forthcoming by-election in the seat of Bennelong.

In relation to this silly issue that has been raised—not jobs, not job creation, not cost of living, but this alleged deal on One Nation preferences—let's be very clear: no deal has been done. No deal has been done, so for the Australian Labor Party to continually assert that a deal has been done is to seek to run another 'Mediscare' campaign on the people of Queensland. It is simply untrue. I learnt a long time ago, as a young lawyer, that the mere repetition of a false assertion does not obviate the need for facts. Clearly not a single fact was offered in that five-minute speech by the Labor senator as to why she asserts that a deal has occurred. No evidence. Why? Because no deal has been made.

If we do want to talk about One Nation in Queensland, if a Labor Queensland senator were to join this debate he may tell us how the Labor Party won the seat of Herbert at the last federal election. The honourable senator would be telling us how One Nation preferences delivered the seat to the Australian Labor Party. Here they are, gathering in the One Nation preferences and winning seats on that basis, and then saying, 'This is a bit embarrassing; what do we do?' Rather than fessing up to what they do, they seek to assert that that is what the Liberal Party does.

What is more, Senator Hanson herself has indicated that the Australian Labor Party contacted One Nation asking One Nation to run dead in Labor seats. Talk about sleazy deals! They tried to do a deal with One Nation. It appears as though they've been rejected. They've never repudiated or denied that which Senator Hanson has asserted—that Labor tried to do a deal with One Nation. They got rejected, so what is their defence? They falsely assert that the Liberal National Party has sought to make such a deal—a deal that does not exist; there is not a single shred of evidence in support of that false assertion. Yet again the Australian people get an insight into the Labor Party—false assertions and an incapacity to deal with the real issues of the day: jobs and cost of living.