Page 476 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 8 March 2011
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Mrs Dunne: That would be disorderly.
MR HARGREAVES: That would be disorderly. Mrs Dunne, in fact, is the expert in disorderly conduct in this place.
Mrs Dunne: Madam Assistant Speaker—
MR HARGREAVES: I have to say in this place—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Le Couteur): One moment, Mr Hargreaves.
Mrs Dunne: I think that the accusation that I am an expert in disorderly conduct is unparliamentary, and I request that it be withdrawn.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, I invite you to withdraw that comment.
MR HARGREAVES: Okay, then, Madam Assistant Speaker, I withdraw the fact that Mrs Dunne is an expert in disorderly conduct in this place.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Thank you. Mr Hargreaves, you have the floor.
MR HARGREAVES: She makes my case for me, but that is fine.
I have to say that I was flabbergasted at the rank hypocrisy of a Labor senator, Senator John Hogg. When I went as part of the parliamentary delegation to Kenya, the Australian delegation of which I was a part was appalled at the lack of democracy shown at that particular gathering. Indeed, my report to members here will reveal the extent to which democracy was abused as part of that process.
Senator Hogg led the charge by saying, “We need to stand up for democracy in this place; everybody has the same rights.” So much so was his power, he wanted to withdraw the Australian delegation from the CPA altogether. Yet here is the same senator who would deny the people in the ACT the rights that he was trying to defend in Kenya. That is rank hypocrisy, and he owes the whole of the ACT an apology for that.
I am saddened by the Liberals’ position here. This action by Senator Bob Brown is an incremental step in the right direction. What part of going in the right direction do people not understand? No, what they want to do is to refer it to a parliamentary committee, which is death by a thousand cuts. You know the old story: if you want to stick something into the rubbish bin, stick a parliamentary committee in it. Give it to them to look at. What happens is that they all go on a junket around the country, talk to everybody and then come up with nothing, which is what they want. Good on you. Here is your chance to actually stand up and do something, join with the rest of us and say: “We’re happy with the incremental step. We’ll be back to do the rest of it but we want the incremental step.”
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