Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I simply make the point, indeed as others have picked up, that you just asked us to put all One Nation candidates and all candidates like them last. We don't know who will nominate in each seat. I would hope that the Australian Labor Party, if Senator Anning is endorsing candidates, might put them last instead of One Nation. We've said very clearly that we will assess who nominates in which seat, their extreme positions and the lack of merit they deserve in terms of how they are ordered on our ballot paper. That's the responsible thing to do. We could not have been clearer that we will be preferencing the Labor Party ahead of One Nation in every possible circumstance.

Indeed, Mr Shorten has had to drag the union movement—I'm not sure entirely successfully—kicking and screaming to abandon what had been a 'Put the Liberals last' campaign that the unions were running. I'm not sure that they've abandoned that yet. Of course, we'll wait and see whether that's the case. But I'm sure you will— (Time expired)