Page 2099 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 22 June 2010
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parliamentarians three, politicians two. In 1999, the now Senator Gary Humphries described the then Labor opposition’s report as the worst ever. This is possibly the best report yet. I thought I was going to get a rise out of them then. What a blow!
It is the best report except, I have to say, for the Booker prize for fiction known as the Liberal’s dissenting report, attached quite appropriately—
Mr Hanson: We would expect you to be happy with this report, John.
MR HARGREAVES: Thank you, Huey. It is attached quite appropriately, Mr Speaker, at the rear where it belongs. I was struck by the variation in workload of various members. Some concentrated on the inquisition of ministers and officials, some concentrated on questions on notice and others were missing in action.
Some members were well prepared and some members were not. Generally speaking, the contribution of the Liberals, excluding Mr Smyth, was a pretty ordinary and miserable effort, I thought. I need to acknowledge the amount of detailed work Mr Smyth put in. His contribution was mainly budget related, in stark contrast to that dynamic duo, those caped crusaders, Captain Seselja and his first mate, Mrs Dunne.
What struck me about Mr Seselja’s contribution was his technological brilliance. It was puppeteering by remote control. That electronic marionette received instructions from a puppeteer on the first floor, arriving on his laptop, to be quickly followed by a question delivered in a fashion reminiscent of a schoolyard bully. His badgering and hectoring of ministers and officials was consistent. It was nearly surpassed by Mrs Dunne, whose process was short of valid content and heavy on personal attack and unsubstantiated insinuation.
It was Mrs Dunne’s behaviour that prompted me to remind everyone of the provisions of the standing orders. It is this appalling, counterproductive and bordering—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR HARGREAVES: I will start again, because I am enjoying this. It is this appalling, counterproductive and bordering on unparliamentary behaviour of the Liberals—both committee members and visiting members—which led to my frustration and anger. It prompted me to remind members and visitors of the contents of standing orders 234 and 235. I will ask members to look them up rather than read them out. I digress very briefly.
Some of the accusations in the dissenting report are very serious indeed. They say that some of the contradictory evidence was so severe that wilful misleading or rank incompetence are the only available explanations. They talk about the criticism of Ms Hunter and, I guess, by extension, myself. They talk about closing things down. They talk about evidence critical of the government being sanitised beyond the point of recognition.
These are serious issues, Mr Speaker, and I challenge those opposite if they think that this is valid to bring a privileges committee on. Bring a privileges committee on and test yourself, because what is said in there is unsubstantiated drivel. It is
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