Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to attach myself to the remarks of Senator Bernardi. In particular, I'm somewhat confounded by why the Australian Labor Party would deny formality on this, although I am not surprised. I remain confounded but not surprised, because it seems that now, when a motion that the Australian Labor Party or the Greens find disagreeable comes to the floor of the Senate, of course they deny formality or deny leave for us to make a comment about it.

On this particular question, I agree with Senator Bernardi. This is a particularly serious issue. Here are the Greens movement, who are trying to introduce a federal ICAC, they say, to oversee corruption and misbehaviour in the political class, riddled with corruption, yet they refuse to attend to and deal with matters in their own house. They won't deal with matters in their own house.

'I think it's always disappointing to see a woman quit in the face of a culture that so many of us know needs to change. The first step in fixing the environment, though, is to break the silence. That's the first step.' They are very wise words. Let me see who said that. Oh, that would be Senator Sarah Hanson-Young in her recent publication En Garde.