Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The hide of the Labor Party—the pink hide of the Labor Party—to lecture anyone on so-called sports rorts. For you, Senator Chisholm: I haven't been sent here at all. In fact, I'm more than happy to be here today, because those opposite didn't just put the pork in the barrel; they ran the piggery—snouts in the trough all the way back to Gough. In fact, even they have forgotten their own patron saint. Who could ever forget St Ros Kelly and the whiteboard? Only barefaced hypocrites would fail to recall the events of late 1993, when sports minister Kelly failed to explain the distribution of grants to marginal seats in the Labor-Keating government. Every time you want to attack the Prime Minister, just have a good think about your insult to the memory of your beloved Keating. Paul would be appalled. Your amnesia couldn't be any more convenient or selective.

Of course, when Ros Kelly resigned, it was a disaster for Labor. They even lost the traditionally safe Labor seat of Canberra. Maybe they should have been installing the lights at Manuka Oval way back then. And guess what. It was the Auditor-General complaining about the manner in which the department had administered $30 million in grants under the Community Cultural, Recreational and Sporting Facilities Program. It was a program started by—guess who. Yes, there's no party without punch. It was the godfather, Graham Richardson of the Labor right, Mr Whatever It Takes, the prince of the piggery, cooking up this program on a spit in 1988. It was Richo's very own bicentenary gift to the nation—a rort in which Labor could shore up endangered seats. In fact, only recently Richo told Paul Murray and Sky News: 'I did exactly the same thing, only better, and I got into no trouble whatsoever. I skated through as I used to do on everything.' Then he joked that Ros Kelly wasn't so lucky. He was laughing out loud. Now there's a sick sense of humour.

But, as a senator for New South Wales, the fact that any Labor member from my state should suggest impropriety in this dog whistling smear of a way is astounding. In fact, if it weren't so offensive, it would be hilarious. The party that boosts the Audi brand better than any advertising campaign, who appears before ICAC so regularly it's almost part of their brand, who must attend caucus meetings so inconveniently and uncomfortably when the poor member for Kingsford Smith has to acknowledge he wasn't so keen on the elevation of now Senator Kenneally for the premiership. Luckily for Senator Kenneally, the Frank Sartor supporters had Eddie Obeid make calls on her behalf. So I suggest to those opposite that they try to keep a straight face when they gaze into that mirror and look at themselves with those shifty eyes.

On a more positive note, I would like to acknowledge the success of the former Minister for Agriculture, who has now stepped aside from the ministry, and look at the loss that she is to the cabinet and to the ministry and look at the contribution that she made to Australia, the successful programs that she did introduce and the wonderful contributions she made to this country. Even at the end of last year, she delivered a mandatory dairy code of conduct. There is the fact that she injected $3.5 million into the Farm Safety Education Fund to improve on-farm safety, something that we should always be looking at when we look at the number of accidents that cause unnecessary deaths on farms. There is the fact that she put $3.9 million towards Beef Australia, promoting our Australian beef in international markets, something that we should be looking at today when we look at our Indonesian trade deal. She was very much a part of opening up agricultural trade and market access cooperation programs worth $6.8 million to help farmers access new and profitable markets. She passed the farm trespass laws to make it unlawful to incite others to invade farms and harass farming families, something too many people opposite in this place were too slow off the mark to condemn. She established a National Feral Pig Coordinator to tackle the Australia's feral pig population. She put $5 million towards the Kids to Farms program, part of the government's $10 million Educating Kids About Agriculture. A significant part of these programs were great contributions to this nation, and I'm sure, given time, Senator McKenzie will once again be able to make a great contribution to our country.