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

When you are finished I'll continue. So, it was co-sponsored, a reference was put up, and we travelled all over the country to investigate these very issues. Senator Hanson-Young turned up at one committee meeting, disrupted it and made allegations that she couldn't substantiate. Notwithstanding that she's been confronted by both the Australian Labor Party and our side of politics to withdraw the allegations in this place, at the committee meeting and at private meetings of the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, she has failed to do that. So her opportunity to be able to get every one of these documents at some prior time through the power of a references committee of this Senate has been and passed. So you can only draw one conclusion: again, there is a pure political motive behind this particular motion here today.

That aside, I love the indignation of the Greens. It is very well refined. They've been denying formality on motions in this place regularly. But, of course, when the time comes and formality is denied to their motions—and I heard Senator Anning made a contribution before that they better get used to it, and I would agree with his contribution—all we get is this false indignation from them about interfering in the course of them being able to put a question to the floor of the Senate to be voted on.

We all know how this all started. I put a question to the floor of the Senate to have it voted on, and I had formality denied—and that has been done on a number of occasions, including yesterday. So this will go on and on. It is a denial of free speech—although, in this case, of course, Senator Hanson-Young can't make that case.

Senator Di Natale interjecting—

Simply because she had a complete references committee where she could have asked every one of these questions and asked for every one of these documents, but she didn't turn up. She didn't turn up. She didn't front. It was her inquiry, co-sponsored with the Australian Labor Party, and she didn't turn up. There's a bit of Nick Xenophon in her—and I don't mean that to be a double reference. But there's a bit of Xenophon in her—references committees and not attending.

Senator Di Natale interjecting—