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

What we just heard from Senator Birmingham was a quisling concession to far-right extremism by the party that used to represent the centre right of Australian politics. It is now unrecognisable to real Liberals now—an outfit that is just an appendage of One Nation and of the right-wing extremism that is out there in the community. It was a mealy-mouthed abrogation of Senator Birmingham's role as a leader of the Liberal Party and conservative politics in this place. It was giving the game away to far-right extremism and what goes on in the cesspool of social media that is out there doing so much damage to normal Australian democracy. It's the weird stuff that's going on there in social media that has taken hold of the imagination of Liberals and Nationals out there.

I agree in one respect in relation to Senator Birmingham's outline—that it should not be a normal thing in here to deny a first reading of a piece of legislation, that we should not do it normally.