Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That—

  (a)   the Senate requests Mr Alan Belford Jones AO apologise to the police and wider public for his false claim that thousands of people and hundreds of trucks, on their way to the 'Convoy of No Confidence' rally outside Parliament House on Monday, 22 August 2011, had been stopped at the border of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory;

  (b)   the President report to the Senate on:

     (i)   Mr Jones' claim that 'the people who have come here [Parliament House] can't actually get into the precinct to be heard', and

     (ii)   whether people attending the rally were prevented in any way different to any other Australian coming to protest at Parliament House or whether this claim by Mr Jones is also false; and

  (c)   Mr Jones be invited to respond to this motion, should it pass.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I think I am going to breach my own rule here.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you seeking leave?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am seeking leave, to make a very short statement.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you. The government does understand the concerns that this motion raises. The government will not be supporting the motion. The parlia­ment, of course, is no stranger to intolerant expressions of opinion about matters of state. Some are expressed during protests in parts of the country, some are expressed out the front of the chamber, and sometimes they are expressed in the chamber, unfortunately. We do not, as a rule, support demands for an apology from those who make wrongheaded claims when engaging in public protest, whether they be in other parts of the country or in the proximity of parliament.

Secondly, in relation to the advice about arrangements for access to the parliamentary precinct, there are other ways that information can be sought. For those reasons, the government will not be supporting the motion.

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Bob Brown's) be agreed to.

The Senate divided. [12:36]

(The President—Senator the Hon. JJ Hogg)

Question negatived.