Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

All that members opposite are doing, with this increasingly shrill, hysterical and hypocritical attack on the royal commissioner, is demonstrating how much they have to hide. Based on the evidence before the royal commission so far, there is a very great deal to hide. The Leader of the Opposition himself has been exposed as someone who was supposed to represent workers, but he ripped off the workers to help himself. I say to members opposite: if they have got a problem with the royal commissioner, there is a procedure that can be entered into before the royal commissioner. It is the procedure that was advised to them by the head of the Law Council of Australia. I suggest to members opposite that if they do not like the person who is presiding they can take an appropriate action. That is what they should do. In the meantime, do not smear someone who was a distinguished judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, who was a very distinguished judge of the High Court of Australia and who is doing the right thing by the workers of our country—unlike members opposite.

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