Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving that the vote be taken again on general business notice of motion No. 1092.

Let me make a few brief remarks. The first point I would make is it might seem implausible, as has been argued by a number of senators in this debate, that this was an administrative process failure, but as implausible as it might seem it is actually the truth. It is often said that, when wondering whether something is a conspiracy or a stuff-up, they go for the stuff-up every time. This was a motion that was initially lodged on 19 September. It was meant to come to a vote on 20 September.

The position adopted by the Liberal-National Party Senate team for a vote that day was to oppose the motion to make a statement that the government condemns any form of racism. But, as the Senate would be aware, the motion did not come up on 20 September. We didn't get to it. We ran out of time to deal with general business notices of motion. Yesterday, the motion came back. I was, and a number of us were, focused on dealing with a number of other matters, and this slipped through in the wrong way.

I take responsibility. The buck stops with me in the Senate. For those who said that I declined to apologise, that's not true. If you look at my statement, I did apologise. This is, for me personally, severely embarrassing. I clearly was of the view, and my team was of the view, that this is a motion that should have been opposed. It's because of the reasons that I've outlined in my earlier statement and in my press conference earlier today that this didn't happen. I thank Senator Wong for giving us the opportunity to recommit this vote so that the final vote recorded by the Senate truly reflects the views of government senators in relation to these matters.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor Party recognises the established Senate principles around voting and misadventure. The opposition welcomes the government's statement and will support the opportunity to have this vote. But I did want to go to what is at the heart of what has caused the government so much of a problem in this regard, and that is the fact that they are so divided on how they deal with One Nation. That is actually the point as to why they came to have this misadventure yesterday when they supported it.

For three weeks they've had the opportunity to consider their position on this motion. In fact, they would have had a position on this when we last sat because it was due to be debated that day. So for them to say it was some sort of administrative error is just completely nonsensical because they had to consider a position on this before the last sitting day that we had. They've had more than three weeks to consider this. Then yesterday they spent all evening backing in their decision, trying to justify the vote that they took in this chamber.

At the heart of it is the dysfunction within the Liberal-National Party over how to deal with One Nation. We've seen it in this chamber, in the two years since I've been elected, with their voting record. They don't know how to deal with One Nation in this regard—whether to cuddle them or whether to fight them. We've also seen it in numerous state elections that we've had in the two years since. We saw it in Western Australia, where the Liberal-National Party cuddled up to One Nation, and Senator Cormann was at the heart of that. I saw it in Queensland at the last state election there, where the LNP did a deal with One Nation, and they suffered the consequence as a result. We know of the damage that the voting record between the government and One Nation has had, and that has been at play in the last two years.

The most recent example was in the Longman by-election. I was out there campaigning, and I saw how closely the LNP and One Nation were working together. They were hand in glove on polling day and in the lead-up to polling day. It was a concerted coalition effort between the Liberal-National Party in Queensland and One Nation. We saw the consequences of that at the ballot box, where the Liberal-National Party vote crumbled. It went backwards 10 per cent, and Labor were able to retain that seat, in no small part due to people rejecting the LNP and One Nation vote.

What we know on the Labor side—and we've had a principled position on this for more than 20 years—is that the only way you can defeat One Nation is by fighting them. We take the fight to them at every opportunity we get. Whether it's policy or whether it's political, you know where the Labor Party stand, whereas the LNP have been completely divided. I say to them—and I've said this numerous times in this chamber—that you need to look at what former senator Ron Boswell said in his valedictory speech. He said his proudest achievement in this place as a senator was leading the fight against One Nation, because he understands that it is, at the end of the day, going to be the LNP that lose out. They're the ones who lose the seats, they're the ones who lose principles and they're the ones who lose the votes by dealing with One Nation. It's not too late for the LNP to recognise what is important to the Australian people, understand that they have been punished because of their relationship with One Nation, and stand up and say no.

What happened yesterday isn't going to cut it. They've since tried to backtrack from that, but they need to maintain those principles and actually send a message to the Australian community that we reject One Nation, we reject their simplistic solutions and we're going to take the fight to them, because that is what the Australian Labor Party has done for 20 years.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've had a number of considered speeches in this chamber, many by my colleagues and, indeed, many by members of the Labor Party. Through all of those speeches the one consistent theme is that what occurred yesterday was not a mistake. Indeed, Senator Chisholm has just acknowledged that this is something that would have been considered weeks before, that they would have had a position on it weeks before and that the position they took yesterday was a reflection of the Liberal Party's position on that motion.

Now, we agree with that; we agree absolutely with that. But, in supporting the recommittal of this motion, what the Labor Party have done is accept that the Liberal Party made a mistake. This is a convention that exists for senators who miss a division because they might be caught in the toilets or, indeed, for senators who might not be following the procedure in the Senate and might be confused about the point of proceedings we're at and may vote in a way that's not consistent with their views on an issue. That's why we recommit motions. We do it to allow senators in this chamber who have made a mistake an opportunity to correct that mistake.

In allowing and supporting a recommittal, Senator Wong and, indeed, Senator Chisholm have effectively agreed that what the Liberal Party have done is make a mistake. That's what recommitting the motion does. We would be pleased to offer leave to the Liberal Party to put forward another motion, one that expressly rejects the premise in the motion that they supported yesterday and, indeed, makes a positive and affirming statement about multiculturalism in Australia. We think that's the appropriate way to deal with this, and that's why we have taken the decision we have.

Question agreed to.