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

I apologise. I know the member for Grayndler is running a small-target strategy, but there's no such thing as a no-target strategy, which is what he's trying to achieve. The opposition have no policies on anything. That is reflected in the fact that they come in here day after day making personal smears against the Prime Minister that are based in absolute mistruth and misinformation and that distort the facts.

I'll come back to COVID a little later, but from listening to some of the responses and comments coming from the opposite side of the chamber I'm not sure that we live in the same country. Australia has higher vaccination rates than most countries in the world. We are at such a significant rate of vaccination—and this might be one for you to take note of—that we don't need quarantine centres. Once we are vaccinated we won't be quarantining. We understand you guys like to throw money around, because it's from the taxpayers. You just chuck it where you can. There will be no need for the centres. You guys wanted to give people $300 to get the vaccine. People went out and got it willingly for nothing. You were prepared to chuck $6 billion up the wall—$6 billion of taxpayers' money to pay people to get a vaccine. You did not even need to think about it.

I would like to point out to this place that not only in this chamber do we hear vile comments but in the other place in question time today, when Minister Hunt was answering a question from the member for Chisholm, an ALP member screamed across the chamber, 'Go and get a room.' We know you can't read it. Someone screamed out, 'Go and get a room,' to Minister Hunt when he was answering a question from Gladys Liu. Seriously? Have you been sleepwalking through this week? The Jenkins report was released in a week when we have seen behaviour in this place descend to new levels.

I haven't heard from one member of the Greens. I'd like to say that when Senator Di Natale and Senator Siewert were here they were absolutely decent people and if Senator Di Natale were the Leader of the Greens, he would have come and spoken to me about the vile behaviour of his colleague. He would have come and talked to me; he would have come and seen me. I can guarantee that Rachel Siewert would have done that, or messaged me, after the many years I have spent with her on committees and knowing what a decent person she is. But there has not been a word—not a peep!—from someone at the end of this chamber. It's absolutely shameful behaviour. The words are, 'I apologise for my colleague's conduct.'

But, on top of that, just to rub a little extra salt into the wound, this morning the member for Sydney who, ironically, is my local member, was asked a question about the vile comment directed at me and she started her sentence with, 'If it's true.' So we believe her and believe all women except for conservative women—they deserve it. They should have got it. It's fine to speak to conservative women in that way, because we're treated differently by women of the Left. So it's not just what was said in this chamber, but the reaction that has been demonstrated by the highest-profile woman in the ALP responding with, 'If it's true.'

Well, it was true. There was an apology given because it was so true and all you women in the Labor Party should be ringing up the member for Sydney and asking her to apologise, because that is disgusting and disgraceful. If you have nothing but personal smears against the Prime Minister going into this election, do you honestly think that Australians, who have had their jobs saved, who have an incredibly high vaccination rates and who have been supported through this pandemic in such a good way, are going to be impacted by your smears and that they'll have any impact on the result?