Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection, Senator Shoebridge. I completely agree with you about the issue in Queensland as well. I've supported, publicly, many times the creation of the upper house there. And the ACT is not being singled out—we often have Senate inquiries into state government activities. We are still conducting one on the Olympics. In regard to the Queensland government, I remember the Labor Party pursuing the Newman government for many years, through a Senate inquiry here, into their activities. So it's not unusual at all, and, as a member of the Senate, I think good Westminster governance does require the checks and balances of multiple chambers of parliament so that you do not get these radical experiments that can cause so much harm and damage from time to time. So that's another reason I think that we should look into this as the Senate. There is no Senate in the ACT. There has been no proper non-partisan inquiry in their legislative assembly.

Finally, I think if we don't do this, if we wash our hands of this situation, as the government seems inclined to do, any particular fallout from these laws has to be partly the responsibility of this government too. I think the government here are running scared on this issue. None of them are giving fulsome support to the ACT government's changes. I would think it would be political suicide to do so. As I said, if parents in this country understood what was going on here they would revolt right across the country. So they're not giving any fulsome support to it. They're washing their hands, as the nation's parliament, as ultimately the government in charge, in providing a check and balance to territory governments under our Constitution. They're washing their hands of that responsibility and, therefore, if there is a fallout—if there is an increase in drug addiction in the ACT, a breakdown in social standards and behaviours, an increase in risk to our police forces, if that happens in this territory—then some of that blame has to fall at the feet of the Albanese government, who are failing to take their responsibilities seriously under this Constitution. There is nothing wrong with a Commonwealth government checking and overseeing laws of this radical nature passed by a territory. It's how our federation is meant to work. I would hope this motion gets support. It is simply an inquiry to look into these grave risks from these radical laws which could cause so much harm to many Australian families.