James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A rules based order based on freedom is the basis of our society and, sadly, it is my melancholy duty to inform those who are listening and watching that the Greens do not share such views. The Greens are not just a clear and present danger to liberal democracy; they are the clear and present danger to Australia. It is not only the duty of every Australian to not vote for the Greens but it is also the duty of every Australian under a compulsory routing system to put the Greens last, and I call upon all political parties to agree that we should put the new nasty party, the Greens, last.

The Greens are a party who have brought ugliness to the Australian political sphere, whether in their weaponisation of October 7 and the growing war in the Middle East or how they campaign in council elections. For example, during the recent Brisbane City Council elections in March of this year, both the Liberal-National Party and the Labor Party were targeted by Greens candidates and by Greens supporters in a manner that can only be described as ugly, thug like and violent.

Across Brisbane, candidates, particularly Liberal-National Party sitting councillors, were targeted by Greens activists. We are not just talking about verbal intimidation while out campaigning but standover tactics during pre-poll and on polling day itself. We can talk about how in one ward the wife of the sitting Liberal-National Party councillor was not just verbally abused in relation to the politics of her husband but she was threatened, she was called a stupid woman and she was called a racist. When her elderly mother came to vote, the Greens candidate in this ward called out and said that she hoped this elderly Australian would be run over by a car. This is the Greens political party at their worst. It is how they operate in Brisbane and it is how they operate across Australia. We saw during the federal election how the Greens behaved in the federal seats of Griffith, Brisbane and Ryan. I know the Greens supporters went to the home of the sitting LNP member for Ryan and abused his children through the screen door, calling them 'little Nazis'. These were people wearing Greens party shirts. This is the new reality of politics in Australia. While the Labor Party and the Liberal-National Party, the parties of government, will have very strong vibrant and boisterous discussions as to who should lead this country, we do not bring a culture of violence and fear to polling places. The Greens political party has done so in Queensland for some time now, and they are bringing it to the national stage and should be called out for it. The Greens should be put last on everyone's ballot paper.

Finally, I just want to say goodbye to Zac Webster, otherwise known as 'Mini Warren', who is leaving Warren Entsch's office for greener pastures. I'd like to say to Zac, who is currently drinking beer in my office, to have a Darwin stubbie from us. I will see you up in Darwin at some point, no doubt.