Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today.

I take note of Senator Minchin’s failure to act as the newly appointed Leader of the Government in the Senate by his refusal to reprimand Senator Heffernan, who has yet again engaged in behaviour unbecoming of a senator and yet again publicly intimidated a colleague—yet again. It was only a fortnight ago that John Howard was at the Press Club bemoaning the decline of standards of personal behaviour in Australia. He complained that reality TV and vulgarisms were overtaking our television sets and that, as a result, and I quote, ‘We are not polite enough to each other.’ That was the Prime Minister. Well, how much Big Brother has Senator Heffernan been watching if he thinks that telling his colleague, and I quote, ‘Blow it out of your arse,’ is an appropriate way to speak in a public place? Telling a fellow senator to ‘blow it out of your arse’ with a raised voice, in public, is a new high-water mark—

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, I think you should withdraw that reference. It is unparliamentary.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a quote.

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It might be a quote, but it is unparliamentary.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If that is your ruling, I withdraw.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Withdraw!

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just said I withdraw. So Senator Heffernan raising his voice in a public area is a new high-water mark for the Howard government’s arrogance and a new low for Australian politics. Speaking in this way is not ‘a robust early morning greeting’, as it was pathetically described by Senator Heffernan; it is appalling personal behaviour which demeans both Senator Heffernan and this chamber. De-Anne Kelly is right to label this type of behaviour as workplace harassment. This is especially so in light of the fact that this is just the latest in a series of incidents of intimidating behaviour on the part of Senator Heffernan. Before publicly abusing Senator Nash, he was stalking Senator Joyce through the corridors of parliament, gatecrashing his doorstop interviews and physically intimidating him on the floor of the Senate. Before that, he was accusing High Court judges of paedophilia. And John Howard is lecturing Australians—

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. That was the second time we heard Senator Conroy refer to the Prime Minister as ‘John Howard’. It is either ‘Mr Howard’ or ‘the Prime Minister’.

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was just about to say that. Thank you. Senator Conroy, it is ‘Mr Howard’ or ‘the Prime Minister’.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And Prime Minister John Howard is lecturing Australians about standards of decency! Maybe he should have a good look in his own party room. It is no surprise that Senator Heffernan does not think the Australian Wheat Board has done anything wrong by greasing Saddam Hussein’s palm to the tune of $300 million. A blithe acceptance of obscene behaviour like this fits perfectly with Senator Heffernan’s and the Howard government’s complete rejection of the norms of civilised society.

No wonder Senator McGauran, with his filthy finger, wanted to sit closer to the marauding Senator Heffernan—they are a pair together. Senator Barnaby Joyce was right to say that Senator Heffernan should wake up to himself. But the Howard government and leaders within the government, like Senator Minchin, have the responsibility to drag him into line and make him, if he will not wake up to himself. It is appalling that John Howard and Nick Minchin—

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy!

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister Howard and Senator Minchin—are allowing Senator Heffernan to career around Canberra, terrorising the place like a rogue elephant. If the Prime Minister has a problem with vulgarisms on our TV, he ought to have a problem with them coming out of the mouth of one of his lieutenants.

Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. The senator opposite actually seems to be reading from a prepared text, which is against standing orders. I have never in my time in here since we have had the taking note debate ever seen someone taking note of an answer from a prepared text. They obviously prepared this in his office prior to the question being asked. The point of order is that he is breaking standing orders. He seems to be reading a speech—a speech on taking note. That is not only against standing orders; it shows a pathetic incapability of actually putting two thoughts together and trying to communicate them in the English language.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am reading quotes and from copious notes.

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, you have 53 seconds left. There is no point of order.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have Senator Julian McGauran, who has grievously broken the trust of the Australian public by misleading Victorian voters about which party he intended to represent. He has stolen a Senate position. And does anyone in this chamber really believe he thought of it himself? Does anybody really believe he came up with this idea himself? There are a few guilty faces on the other side, looking down at their papers as we speak! How are you, Senator Ronaldson? Senator Kemp is not here at the moment. Does anybody really believe that Senator Julian McGauran really thought this little scheme up himself? Really! The Costello forces are so desperate for any votes to add to the phone box that they recruited the village idiot. (Time expired)

Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we are back at the beginning of the year 2006 with all sorts of challenges facing Australia as a country—all sorts of major policy issues to ensure that Australia is kept economically secure, her borders are secure, the people have hope for the future, with a secure future, a good economy, a good health system and a good aged care system—and 38 minutes or thereabouts into question time, we get a question about a couple of senators and a conversation at an airport. It shows me, and I think it would show most people watching question time, a Labor Party that is so out of touch with the community and so devoid of any care about serious policy issues that 37 or 38 minutes into the first question time in a new year, in this new millennium, this is what they resort to.

Of course, who was the leading advocate of this tactic? It was one of the longest serving deputy leaders of a tired opposition, a tired Labor Party, Senator Conroy, who himself has an absolutely abysmal record of personal behaviour within the Australian Labor Party. In fact, I think there are reports of punch-ups in which Senator Conroy was involved on the floor of the Victorian state ALP conference last year. Of course, he is up to his neck in one of the biggest divisions within the Australian Labor Party in Victoria since the split. That is trying to see people like Mr Shorten unseat sitting members such as Mr Simon Crean, a long-serving member of the Australian Labor Party, a distinguished former Labor Party minister and in fact the former Leader of the Opposition. Of course, Senator Conroy is in it up to his neck.

The issues that confront Australia—the issues that the coalition are dealing with, that the Liberal Party are dealing with, that the National Party are dealing with and that Mr Howard, Mr Costello, the leadership team and Mr Howard’s ministers and all the party are dealing with—are: how do we ensure that the economy stays strong, how do we ensure that we build our exports, and how do we build our infrastructure through the AusLink project? We are focused on the main game.

Over summer, Labor were divided on issues like health care and climate change. You had Martin Ferguson out there talking about being sensible, about ensuring that the world has access to uranium and expanding nuclear power to ensure that we do not put emissions into the atmosphere. And you had Mr Beazley, only a few weeks later, saying, ‘No, we can’t have any nuclear power.’ You had Mr Ferguson out there saying, ‘Yes, it’s a good thing the coalition government are doing, pulling together half the world’s population in a historic meeting of nations to address climate change, to ensure that we have a strong economy, secure jobs in Australia, growing jobs in developing countries and yet lower carbon emissions.’ It is a historic agreement endorsed by one senior member of the Labor Party, who sits in the House of Representatives, Mr Ferguson, and of course slammed by other members, including the leader, Mr Beazley. Talk about reform fatigue when you are opposition leader! He has been opposition leader on and off for 10 years, with no new policies in key areas: no new policies in health, no new policies in aged care and no new policies in climate change. The best they can do after 38 minutes of coming into the premier legislative chamber in the Commonwealth of Australia is to start talking about conversations at airports.

This displays an opposition that has run out of puff. It has run out of enthusiasm. It has run out of ideas. All it can do is focus on things that are not relevant to the Australian people. The people of Australia do not want their government, their politicians, to focus on petty internal political issues or on personal issues; they want to ensure that their children have a good education, that they have access to a good health system and that elderly Australians have access to aged care. This is what the government is focusing on. On Friday the Prime Minister will lead the Council of Australian Governments meeting with the premiers and the territory leaders. They will be focusing, under his leadership, on improving Australia’s health care system and the aged care system and on coming up with a comprehensive Australian policy on climate change, with unprecedented cooperation between the states and the Commonwealth. These are the issues that matter to Australians. What matters to the Labor Party is petty politics. They should be condemned for that and, as Martin Ferguson says, get real!

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The proposition that we hear from the government is that there are major issues confronting this country. I have to agree with that. But what is the government’s response? We see that within their own operations their preoccupation is the question of personal advancement. It really is all about who is going to be the next leader of the government. The unedifying spectacle yesterday was a dispute that arose as a result of the Costello forces in Victoria. We have a senator here who used to represent the seat of Ballarat clearly heavily involved in the poaching of Senator McGauran from the National Party to the Liberal Party. What reason was there? There has been none stated publicly, other than an attempt to shore up the Costello numbers within the Liberal Party itself.

Senator Nash responded by saying that never again would she put the interests of the government ahead of her party when voting in the Senate after the Liberal Party deliberately went out and purchased a vote within the Liberal Party room itself. We have a senator who was described by the former Premier of Victoria as the most useless senator for the state of Victoria. This is the man that they have purchased as a result of the intervention of the Costello forces within the Liberal Party to buy a vote. It boils down to a question of numbers. It is not a matter of deep principle.

Senator Heffernan, the Prime Minister’s attack dog, is let off the leash yet again and goes to the airport here in Canberra yesterday and tells Senator Nash that she may ‘blow it out her backside’—I use that word in deference to the ruling of the Deputy President on this matter. In this place today, we have seen Senator Minchin try to tell us there was nothing in it; it was only a question of the ABC blowing it up. What we have here is the coalition being blown up as a deliberate attempt has been made by one section of the Liberal Party to secure additional numbers in a forthcoming ballot for the leadership of the government. That is the fundamental question here—not the big issues facing this society but who is going to become the Prime Minister as a result of a forthcoming leadership ballot within the Liberal Party.

We have a senator who clearly is more interested in getting his tango lessons on the 21st floor in Collins Street than he is in representing the people of Victoria. We have got a senator here who has shown by his own personal demeanour and behaviour that he is not fit for service in this chamber. We have a senator here who should have resigned instead of taking the 30 pieces of silver from the Liberal Party for his transfer. What we have is new cannon fodder being provided by the Costello forces in this forthcoming battle. We have got the cannon fodder as we see that the National Party’s traditional role as the doormats to the Liberal Party is being fulfilled in its ultimate function.

We have Senator McGauran who says that the real truth of the matter is that the future is with the Liberal Party itself. Very rarely do I agree with Senator McGauran. I suppose you could say that a stopped clock is at least right twice a day. We have a circumstance here where Senator McGauran might have something; there might be something in it. The fact is the National Party is going from oblivion to oblivion as a result of the failure of its policy positions over many years. We have a situation where Senator Heffernan has been let loose to try to act as the attack dog for the Prime Minister to try to ensure the National Party fulfils its function as the doormats in this chamber.

We have seen in recent times that the National Party has failed to fulfil its obligations to its constituencies. As a consequence, it has lost seat after seat after seat in this parliament. Hume, gone! New England, gone! Farrer, gone! Kennedy, gone! Richmond, gone! Now a Victorian Senate spot, gone! The first seats were won in this place by the National Party in Tasmania. They have not had representation much ever since. We have seen that the National Party used to hold seats from the Gulf of Carpentaria right down to Bass Strait. Now look at the electoral map of this country. Because of the doormat policies of the National Party, Senator McGauran has led the way. He has shown what it really is to be in the Country Party, to always put pragmatism ahead of principle. He has been bought so incredibly cheaply. What has he got as a result of that? Disgrace for himself.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. Senator Carr has used the term ‘bought’ on a couple of occasions during this presentation. I would ask you to consider whether that is parliamentary or otherwise.

John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, I do not think you should refer to a senator as being ‘bought’. I ask you to withdraw that.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will withdraw any unparliamentary language. What I say is simply this: Senator McGauran has changed his political allegiance in this chamber as a result of the direct intervention of the Liberal Party, the price for which, I say, is far too low. (Time expired)

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My children use the expression ‘gobsmacked’. It is an expression that I quite enjoy using myself. There would be a lot of people listening today—on their radios, driving the car, at home—on the first day that the Senate has sat this year who will be utterly gobsmacked by the total incompetence of the Australian Labor Party in the Senate. As one of my colleagues pointed out before, not only have the two senators had notes already prepared—this is a ‘take note of’; something that has come up during question time that the opposition wishes to take note of—but, as Senator Parry has said, they have got typed notes. So this was a deliberate strategy by the ALP prior to question time to make this their first take note.

If you go back through the newspapers over the last week and you listen to the Leader of the Opposition, you listen to the member for Griffith and you listen to Labor Party senators, they have been apparently talking about the Australian Wheat Board and other matters allegedly of importance to this country. Did we hear one word about that during the first opportunity the Australian Labor Party had to talk about matters of national interest when this Senate resumed sitting? No, we did not. We had the walking, talking doormat talking about the doormats allegedly in the National Party.

The reason why Senator Carr constantly grows his beard is so that we cannot see the scratch marks and the bite marks from Senator Conroy when he mauls him in the Victorian division of the Labor Party. For Senator Conroy to have the nerve to stand up here and talk about infighting and mauling quite frankly leaves me gobsmacked. If honourable senators look at today’s Age and look at the casualties of the infighting in the Labor Party and the mauling of the Left by the Right, and then look at that in the context of the rubbish we have heard today, they will see that that is a fairly clear indication that this Senate is going to have another 12 months of Labor Party incompetence.

There is one person in this chamber who does not need the help of Senator Conroy or Senator Carr, and that is Senator Nash. She is far smarter and far tougher than Senator Carr and Senator Conroy put together, and she does not need the Australian Labor Party to support her. I would think that if, at the end of this year, people were to look back at the start of this year and the discussions of the Labor Party, they would see that in some respects the white flag has been raised already. Look at Mr Beazley. Four days ago he was threatening to take out every single government minister, including the Prime Minister, in the first day of question time on the first day back. And last night he was saying that there would be no casualties.

Why is it that the Australian Labor Party is so totally incapable of giving its supporters any hope for the future? What will Labor Party members think about this pathetic attack today by the Labor Party on the first day of the Senate sitting? They will be as appalled as the people who are listening today. Again, the Labor Party branch membership has been let down by a totally incompetent opposition in the other place and a totally incompetent opposition in this place. Let us have some serious and genuine debate in this chamber. Let us actually meet some of the challenges that we were elected to confront rather than talking about a pathetic intervention by a pathetic opposition on a pathetic subject.

Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can draw Senator Ronaldson’s attention to the Age as well. Michelle Grattan’s column talks about an incident which occurred between Senators Heffernan and Nash as they prepared to board an early morning flight from Canberra to Sydney. The article purports to quote the nature of the exchange, and it purports to quote Senator Nash, who confirmed the exchange and described it as ‘Bill being Bill’. She said, ‘I certainly wouldn’t expect quite such ill manners at 6.30 in the morning.’ When this matter was raised in question time a number of government senators asked, ‘Were you there?’ as though, unless senators on this side of the chamber were personally present they could not rely on the report in the paper, which quotes a senator who was involved and assures us that what is purported to have taken place did take place.

That is pretty typical of this government. When they said, ‘We weren’t told about children overboard,’ that was their excuse. Now we are hearing in relation to the AWB, ‘No-one told us that AWB was giving money to Saddam Hussein’—a typical hollow defence. I heard the answer of the Prime Minister in question time today when he was asked whether he thought to investigate the claims that AWB were paying money to the Iraqis. He referred to a press release of mine and quoted selectively from the last paragraph, which says: ‘In the absence of evidence to support allegations, Australian wheat growers are entitled to dismiss the claims as an attempt to promote the sale of US subsidised wheat in the Iraq market,’ and he used that as a justification for saying, ‘Therefore I had no reason to investigate the claims that AWB were diverting money to Saddam Hussein.’

What the Prime Minister failed to do in question time today, and Minister Vaile has also failed to do this, was to deal with the other eight or so paragraphs of the press release and the heading, which says: ‘Iraq kickback claims must be investigated.’ That is the dishonesty of this government’s approach to questions being raised about their actions: they did not know, they had not heard, they were not there to hear the exchange—and then they misrepresent what the opposition said in 2003 in relation to this in order to justify the Prime Minister not investigating what was clearly known to the government at that time.

We heard Mr Vaile in question time today in relation to the same matter. He said that he asked AWB and they said that nothing was wrong, so he did not take it any further. That is the sort of approach this government takes, and it is the same approach that Senator Minchin now takes to the behaviour of Senator Heffernan—behaviour revealed on the radio and in the Age today and not contradicted by Senator Nash in the report in the Age today. But the government is prepared to say, ‘Well, it is one of ours. We can’t have a casualty. We can’t apply to our own the standards that we expect everyone else to maintain. So we are going to say, “You don’t know what happened because you weren’t there.”’ That was the despicable standard of senators opposite in question time today. It is despicable, because the government and the Prime Minister have asked Australians to adopt a higher standard in their behaviour towards others. But when it comes to members of the government, when it comes to them trying to intimidate members of the National Party—that poor, sliding-into-oblivion party—then there is a double standard.

I can understand the National Party being upset. The Labor Party has had people rat on it and vote against it in this chamber. When former Leader of the Democrats Cheryl Kernot left the Democrats, she resigned from the Senate and ultimately contested a House of Representatives seat, which she won, on behalf of the Labor Party. Do we see that integrity from Senator McGauran when he rats on his party, joins the Liberal Party and takes a National Party seat into another party room? No, we do not. That is why the National Party is so upset, and I can understand it, but that is a standard that this government is prepared to accept, just as all their other double standards are acceptable when they seek to impose other standards on the Australian people. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.