Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, in the senators' statements debate, I want to raise two issues which are separate but interrelated. The first, I regret to say, is that I am concerned about the direction in which the Senate is heading. I have been here for quite some time now. I have seen how the Senate operated in days gone by. It has never been a chamber in which there were not robust discussions—but in times past, the Senate concentrated on its proper legislative and regulatory functions, and the protections and enhancements of individuals' rights and obligations. However, increasingly, we see the Senate being used for crass political purposes.

In a parliament, where politics are involved, there is always a bit of political game playing. But I am talking about the sorts of things that are exemplified by the Clive Palmer-initiated Senate committee inquiry into another sovereign government, which just take the whole process to a new low. If this sort of thing continues, it is really going to diminish what I think is the quite high standing of the Senate. I do not blame Mr Clive Palmer, who wants to pursue a vendetta he has against the Queensland Premier over a business deal that he did not get in Queensland. I am concerned that an outside influence like that can impose a course of action upon a small political party that used to consist of three people. I accept that those people have taken their instructions from an outsider so he can pursue his own interests. I am sorry about that, because I think the people involved are decent Australians. But they are allowing themselves to be used by outside influences and, therefore, they must take the consequences of getting involved in that sort of action. So, that concerns me.

But I am more concerned that the Labor Party in recent times has gone along with these proceedings which really do not bring credit to the Senate. The whole setting-up of that inquiry was a farce. We do have committees that deal with issues that are contentious and which the two major political parties have different views on, but usually committees are set up in a way that gives one side or the other a majority. Usually it is a four-three majority—you try to make sure that the people on the committee represent the numbers in the Senate—but for that particular committee it was anything but.

Senators, since I first arrived here, seem to be more rigidly controlled—not on this side, I might say. On the government side, we have a proud tradition of senators who are prepared to exercise their own mind, unlike the Labor Party. Senator Cameron quite clearly told us all a few years ago that the Labor Party were just lobotomised zombies. Remember that? They just sit there to make up the numbers and put up their hands when they are told—a throwback to the union days. On our side there are a number of senators—there are even some in the chamber at the moment—who are prepared to exercise their own views while being loyal to their party; they are never afraid to have a different view to their party where their own conscience or their own constituents take a different view. We have a proud history of this, going back to Senator Ian Woods, who was almost a predecessor of mine, coming from up Mackay way. Senator Robert Hill ended up as a very distinguished leader in this chamber for about 20 years, as Leader of the Government in the Senate later and as opposition leader in the Senate. Mr Barnaby Joyce—now Mr Barnaby Joyce, formerly Senator Barnaby Joyce—never worried about challenging the then Prime Minister about issues. We are allowed to do that because we understand the parliamentary process. But it seems these days, even more rigidly, the Labor Party senators are not allowed to have a view in this chamber.

One of the other things that concerns me on the way the chamber is going is how Senate staff are being put at a disadvantage by the antics of the Labor Party and the Greens and the Palmer United Party with things like the Queensland committee. The Senate staff do a fabulous job, they are very talented people, but they are put in an invidious position by the Labor Party joining with two parties that you might expect it from. The Labor Party join in on these sham committees that then put real pressure on the other party. That is particularly related to the Clive Palmer inquiry, supported by Labor, into the Queensland government.

And that brings me onto the other matter that I wanted to briefly mention. If Mr Palmer or the Labor Party think that the Queensland government has not done a good job, the right place to deal with that is at the Queensland election—it is a democracy—and that is coming up in a few months time. That is where those issues should be, not setting up some sham Queensland committee. I am quite happy to leave it to my fellow Queenslanders at the next election because I know they will return 'Can Do' Campbell Newman and his team. For those of you who do not know: every time you go to the Brisbane Airport and drive those magnificent tunnels from the airport into the centre of the city, remember that this was Campbell Newman's doing as a lord mayor of Brisbane. That is where he got his nickname of 'Can Do' from.

And he has continued that since he has become premier. I get angry driving around Queensland because everywhere I go roads are under construction. This never happened under Labor. Roads are being built everywhere. The help that Mr Newman and his team have built for farmers is fabulous. The waiting list—have a look at the waiting list. When Campbell Newman took over, the waiting lists were in the tens of thousands to get into hospitals and for operations. I do not have the exact figures, but the most recent I heard for various waiting lists was under 500—down from tens of thousands. They have done a wonderful job there.

Crime and the safety of people in Queensland: you can actually now go to the Gold Coast and not be shot at by a bikie. But the Labor Party wanted to support the Finks and the Banditos bikie gangs; they wanted them to continue to terrorise the people of Queensland. Now Campbell Newman stood up to them. They took him to court; it was a very expensive court case. Fortunately, the High Court, in its judgement and serious wisdom, agreed that Mr Campbell Newman had done the right thing. And Queenslanders now feel much safer than they did under the Labor Party regimes, when the bikie gangs ran riot.

I come from the north and we have a fabulous team of MPs up there. I am quite certain they will be returned on their own merits, but, as members of Campbell Newman's team, they are also certain to get the support of people because we like what they are doing up that way. I mention, just in passing, Mr Jason Costigan, the member for Whitsunday, who, all congratulations to him, was preselected just the other day. There is Ms Rosemary Menkens, from my own electorate of Burdekin; John Hathaway from the electorate of Townsville; Sam Cox, from the electorate of Thuringowa; David Crisafulli, from the electorate of Mundingburra—an excellent Minister for Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience, and a man who will go far. We have the member for Hinchinbrook, Mr Andrew Cripps, the minister for natural resources, doing a wonderful job in that area; David Kempton, up in Cook, in Cape York and minister for Torres Strait Islands; Gavin King, up in Cairns; and Michael Trout, up in Barron River. They are all exceptionally good members doing what they are supposed to do—that is, looking after the interests of their constituents as well as, in many of the cases that I have mentioned, playing a major role as senior ministers in a government that has done so much for Queensland and a government that is at last addressing Labor's $97 billion debt that it left me and my fellow Queenslanders to pay off.