Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Late yesterday the Liberals' $80 million taxpayer funded royal commission sank to a grubby new low. In an unprecedented attempted invasion of privacy the commission served a 'notice to produce', signed by the royal commissioner, on the Victorian branch of the Labor Party, demanding access to all membership application forms and payment methods for the 2013 renewals of membership. This would disclose the name, home address, telephone numbers, email addresses, date of birth, gender, whether the member is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, whether the member wishes to join Rainbow Labor, which could out people who are not yet open about being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex, their political history, their union affiliation and their income.

This is a low use of high office. It is a disgraceful, shocking abuse of power. We already knew that the Liberals' $80 million royal commission was a political witch-hunt designed to smear and slander the Labor Party and the labour movement, but this latest indecency goes beyond an assault on the unions. It is an attack on the fundamental democratic principle of freedom of association. This taxpayer funded inquisition is now attempting to break one of the foundation stones of Australian democracy. Australians will not stand for this, and the Liberals should be ashamed of knowingly, gleefully, aiding and abetting this travesty. The Prime Minister should bring it to an end immediately.