Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

You, the minister at the table, have treated them like second-class citizens since your mob was elected. The only person to show any form of international leadership from a governmental perspective has been President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. We could learn a bit about statesmanship from him, and you could too. The minister, who was at the dispatch box earlier, said the Indonesians will not work with this. I say that if I were spoken to as this government has spoken to the Indonesians I would not deal with you either. Get on a plane, go over and sort it out. Sit down with them and tell them what is going on.

But to the people of Australia I say this, in conclusion. When my great-grandfather came to Australia in 1902 he had to change his religion to get a job. He was a Catholic. To become a civil servant and serve with distinction, which he did—he ended up being the superintendent of Westbrook Boys Home—he had to become an Anglican. So there have always been problems with religion in this country. My father will always tell you that he spent every Christmas from 1936 to 1949 at Westbrook Boys Home, outside Pittsworth—but he was never an inmate.

So we have always had problems with religion in this country, we have always had problems with people mixing. But my great-grandfather did not take to the streets and belt a copper when things did not go his way. My great-grandfather did the right thing. He made the choice and he went about it the right way. He made the changes he had to make—

Mr Champion interjecting—

You're out of your seat, mate; get back over there if you want to interject. The whole thing about this is that we have lost the case. You guys sit up there and tell us we are playing politics, when all the way through your whole raison d'etre has been aimed at the bloke you should be sitting next to: the member for Griffith. That is all this is about. That is all you people are about and it is all you will ever be about with this thing. Shame on you. You should just get on a plane and go over and speak to them and fix the thing up at the start, which is where it should be fixed.

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