Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw any imputation about colleagues in this chamber with respect to the home invasion. I acknowledge Senator Hanson-Young did mention it, and I sat through the entire debate in the last time around and listened to all the lame excuses from the other side as to why this couldn't occur. I accept that Senator Hanson-Young did acknowledge that people's houses should be out of bounds, but that's why I'm so bloody cheesed off about this. They went to somebody's home. I'd be equally cheesed off if it was your home, Senator Hanson Young. None of us—nobody in public life, nobody in commercial life—deserves this. Nobody deserves this.

The ABC's had three weeks. The ABC has had three weeks to complete this investigation. They've admitted they didn't give us the full story at the outset. They've admitted that, and I acknowledge Mr Anderson for doing so, but time's up. The Senate should be given the opportunity to ask its questions, not the ones that the internal ABC investigators want to ask themselves. Imagine, if this was a mining company investigating itself, what we would be hearing from across the chamber. What would we be hearing?

Some consistency of argument would be the thing that I'm talking about: consistency of argument, consistency of process. The ABC's had three weeks. The government and the Greens should reconsider their position. We all agree—Senator Watt, Senator Payman, Senator Hanson-Young and, I'm assuming, Senator McKim—that people's homes are out of bounds. We all think that. We all agree with that. So let this chamber ask its questions. That's what this motion seeks to do. Let's stand up for the things that we actually believe in: protecting people's homes and their families from these activities, which are starting to get out of hand and become home invasions. I genuinely and sincerely think the government and the Greens should reconsider their position on this. I genuinely believe that.

These people went to somebody's home. They had been casing the place out for two nights. They were emboldened by the fact that they knew they would get an ABC Four Corners news crew there. We need to play our part in making sure that this sort of activity doesn't re-occur. I genuinely don't understand how in good conscience this chamber can say no to asking these questions. I genuinely don't understand it, because it's absolutely outrageous that the ABC through this process was effectively party to home invasion. It shouldn't happen. Get news, get protests, get all of that, but we need to be able to ask the questions that we want to ask and we should be doing everything that we possibly can, as we have agreed across the chamber. This protection of our private homes should apply in that context everywhere.

It's not about the Coalition. It's not about the Greens. It's not about crossbench. It's not about Labor in government. This is about protecting people's homes from action that should not occur and ensuring that important government institutions which are trusted by Australians to report are not drawn into that process and don't incite that process. So the government and the Greens should genuinely reconsider their vote on this. It would it would be an absolute indictment on them both if they didn't.