Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to begin by wishing Senator Hanson a happy birthday. I didn't actually realise it was your birthday yesterday, Senator Hanson. That even further explains your actions in moving this amendment. When I spoke on this last night I realised that you were 67 and that that was the reason you were trying to move a tax benefit for people who are 67 or older. What I didn't realise was that you were moving the amendment to benefit 67-year-olds on the day you turned 67. That is ingenious! How long did you spend working out how you could manipulate the system to give yourself a pay rise on your birthday? I've heard of a lot of people out there who like to buy themselves a birthday present on their birthday because they're not sure what they're going to get. I've never heard of a politician coming down to Canberra to move an amendment to use taxpayers' money to give themselves a birthday present on their birthday, but that's what Senator Hanson did just yesterday, on her birthday. That is extraordinary!

Senator Hanson, you said that you ran down into the chamber. I can understand why you ran down into the chamber, because you were so desperate to move this amendment to give yourself a birthday present—not only a $30,000 pay rise but a $30,000 birthday present at taxpayers' expense. If I were going to do that, I would be running down to the chamber as well. But do you know what's different about you and me? I don't run down to the chamber to give myself a pay rise. I didn't get elected to Canberra to give myself a pay rise. I got elected to actually look after battlers, not bullshit to them like you do, constantly.