Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Now, let me come to these questions. Senator O'Sullivan is very upset about claims that are made about the size of the rally. There's nothing wrong with a rally of a few hundred people out the front of Parliament House. There's nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is the Liberal and National parties making inflated claims of thousands of people out the front, which is the immediate default. And I know—as I say, I've organised a few rallies in my time—you always make claims tripling the number of people who are there because it suits your purposes. But the problem is that it's not right, and those claims are being made by this crowd, even though they know they're not right. No wonder they've got such trouble in terms of fiscal policy; they can't count!

It is a good thing that people flew or drove here from Western Australia. It is a long flight—5½ hours—which I do have to say is longer than Senator McKenzie's divestiture policy on the airline industry lasted. It lasted 5½ hours; that's the truth. This show is such a rabble. There are dishonest claims about agriculture. There are red-hot opinion pieces in the Australian Financial Review which last less time than a flight from Sydney to Perth. This is another rabble making dishonest claims, leading the farming community up a cul-de-sac with claims that can't be sustained.