Page 5847 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 7 December 2010
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MR SESELJA: Could we stop the clocks?
MR SPEAKER: Stop the clocks, thank you.
Ms Bresnan: Mr Seselja just said that Ms Bresnan was a fool. I ask him to withdraw that statement.
MR SESELJA: No, I did not.
Ms Bresnan: He just said that Ms Bresnan was a fool. I ask him to withdraw that statement.
MR SESELJA: I did not say it.
MR SPEAKER: Members, please be quiet. I cannot even hear Ms Bresnan on the fourth occasion.
Ms Bresnan: He said Ms Bresnan was a fool. I ask him to withdraw that statement.
MR SESELJA: I did not say it.
MR SPEAKER: I am going to have to go to Hansard on this. Mr Seselja, you have the floor to continue.
MR SESELJA: Thank you, Mr Speaker. We see why the Labor Party and the Greens do not want this debate. They have been embarrassed by the performance of this minister. I think what I was saying before the point of order was that the prison is now full. The prison is now full. It is near capacity already, to the extent that they are having to get in bunk beds. We have got a minister who, soon after opening this prison, told us that it would have 20 to 25 years capacity. We now see that it is actually filling up well before that—to the extent that they need to get bunk beds. We now see that he has been fudging the numbers. He has been saying that there are 300 when there is in fact a much lesser capacity. That is why they do not want to debate it.
These are the things that Mr Corbell and his colleagues find it so difficult to defend. I think it is outrageous that we have the Labor Party and the Greens again combining to prevent this minister from being scrutinised. The case has been put in question time. The questions have been put. Mr Corbell has not been able to answer the questions. He was given the opportunity. He was given the opportunity to correct the record. He was given the opportunity to explain why he gave us incorrect information in the lead-up, why he got it so wrong, why the prison is already full and why he has been giving us this incorrect information all this time. He failed to do so. He had that opportunity, and he failed.
Now the Labor Party and the Greens are squibbing the debate. They are squibbing the debate because, clearly, they do not have any confidence in the minister. We do not have confidence in this minister. That is why Mr Hanson should be able to move this motion of censure and we should be able to have the full debate that this deserves.
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