Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to participate in this take note debate sparked by Senator Farrell's question reflecting on a tweet sent from New York City from the former Prime Minister Mr Malcolm Turnbull. There he is, exiled to New York, tweeting away, helpfully providing information and advice—and not just to his colleagues who remain back here in Australia. I suppose he could have done that by WhatsApp or a text message, but by tweeting he provides advice not just to his colleagues in the coalition but indeed to all Australians. What was that advice? It was that the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, should be consistent in the rules. The rule that applied to Barnaby Joyce, referral to the High Court, should also apply to Peter Dutton, to resolve the legitimate and lingering questions about his suitability to sit in this parliament. I'm not often one to stand up and say Malcolm Turnbull is right, but in this instance, in the spirit of bipartisanship, I'm happy to do so, because the advice the former Prime Minister has tweeted from New York is very helpful advice that should be taken up by those opposite in this chamber.

New York is an interesting place. It's a beautiful place. It's the city that never sleeps. We know that. I'm sure many of us in this chamber and many Australians have had the opportunity to visit New York City. It turns out there's one other Australian that might get that opportunity to go to New York City: none other than the member for Chisholm in the other place, Ms Julia Banks. Yes, it seems that the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has offered the member for Chisholm the chance to go to New York City. I don't know—maybe he thinks she could catch up with Mr Turnbull. Maybe he thinks she needs a break. Possibly he thinks that it would be so handy for the Morrison government to have the member for Chisholm off in New York City for three months, because that's what she would get if she took up this offer. She would get the chance to go to New York City on a trip to the UN. She would get to go to the UN and be seconded there, away from the prying eyes of the public, away from the cameras and away from her parliamentary privilege in the lower house. She would get the opportunity to be in New York, and he would get the opportunity not to have her in front of the Australian people talking about things like bullying, intimidation and—heaven forbid!—quotas in the Liberal Party to get more women elected.

The member for Banks—excuse me, the member for Chisholm. I'll get that one right yet! The member for Chisholm, Julia Banks, has spoken quite clearly, quite forcefully and quite strongly about the need for there to be more women in the Liberal Party ranks in this parliament. She made clear in her speech last night that we're talking about quotas for women, who represent more than half our population. These are the words of the member for Chisholm:

The meritocracy argument is completely and utterly flawed. There are an equal number of meritorious Liberal women out there in the real world as there are men, but they won't come if the barriers to entry and mountains to climb are too high.

Ms Banks goes on to point out a culture of what she describes as appalling behaviour in the Liberal Party:

Appalling behaviour is an umbrella descriptor for bullying, intimidation, harassment—sexual or otherwise—or a lack of integrity. In my political journey, a culture of appalling behaviour has been widespread, pervasive and undermining, like white ants.

No wonder Scott Morrison tried to persuade her—buy her off, perhaps, and get her silence—by sending her to New York for three months!

Is this how the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, proposes to 'deal with' the problems? Is this his solution—offer a few women a few positions, a few minor promotions, and offer Julia Banks, the member for Chisholm, the opportunity to go to New York for three months so he gets her out of sight, out of mind and away from the Australian public and talking about the appalling culture, the appalling behaviour, the bullying and the intimidation going on inside the Liberal Party? I'm going to end on the words of the member for Chisholm. She says there is no 'ready fix' for this issue and she believes increasing representation of women through quotas will go some way to doing this.

Question agreed to.