Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the weekend the Australian War Memorial was desecrated. It was vandalised with political graffiti. Yesterday, Senator Jacqui Lambie moved a motion condemning the act of defacing war memorials and condemning it as deeply insulting to current and former members of the Australian Defence Force. That motion was supported by the coalition—by the opposition. That motion was supported by the government, and I note the terrific contribution from Senator Ciccone in that regard. That motion was supported by everyone on the crossbench, but it was opposed by the Australian Greens.

The Australian Greens opposed a motion condemning the desecration of our Australian War Memorial. Every other senator in this place supported the motion, but the Australian Greens—I have the Hansard here; you can check the Hansardsaid: 'We will not be supporting this motion today. We will oppose this motion today.' It's in the Hansard. The extreme Australian Greens—every other senator in this place supported that motion condemning the desecration of our war memorials with political graffiti. I am sure that 99 per cent of Australians believe that, of all places, our Australian War Memorial should be something above politics, but the Australian Greens refused to condemn the desecration of our Australian War Memorial.

Every single day between now and the next federal election, I will be reminding the people in those seats in Queensland held by the Greens of the fact that the Australian Greens opposed that motion.