House debates

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Motions

Senator Conroy

3:04 pm

Photo of Ms Julie BishopMs Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

So he is taking former Senator Feeney's advice. It is about time, Leader of the Opposition. Take some advice from somebody who actually has worked with our defence forces and understands what this is doing to the morale of the men and women who serve this country. They do not expect to turn up in Senate estimates and have abuse hurled at them by the factional bovver boy of the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition unleashed the bovver boy. It is time he put him back on the rein. It is time the Leader of the Opposition showed some courage, some decency, and demanded that Senator Conroy give an unqualified apology to an honourable man who has served this country for over 30 years.

This is a difficult task for any officer. This is a difficult task for any public servant. Lieutenant General Campbell was chosen because of his professionalism, his skill and his objectivity and he has risen to the task asked of him. He has to protect his Navy personnel because it is dangerous work in dangerous and risky circumstances. He has to withstand the glare of the media, who are focusing on Operation Sovereign Borders, but make no mistake: Operation Sovereign Borders was endorsed by the Australian people at the last election. So he is carrying out the tasks required of him by the government of the day. That is what our military personnel do, time in, time out. They do military work, they do humanitarian work, they carry out the policies, the requests and the directions of the government of the day. That is what they did when Labor were in government.

What has happened to the Labor Party, who said there was bipartisan support for our military? What has happened to the Leader of the Opposition, who said he did not want our Navy to be a political football? What has happened to the decency that should be within this party? Enough of them have been defence ministers. Enough of them have been assistant defence ministers. There are decent people within the Labor Party, but they are not the Leader of the Opposition. It is now 10 past three on the day after this appalling attack, since this despicable slur was directed at Lieutenant General Campbell, and we still have not heard from the Leader of the Opposition.

Does it really take a motion from one of the Independents for the Leader of the Opposition to get on his feet? Is that what it is going to take? He had opportunity after opportunity in question time. He could have stood up on indulgence and, Madam Speaker, we would have given the Leader of the Opposition an indulgence, had he asked you, so that he could have disassociated himself from the appalling conduct of Senator Conroy and joined with the government in condemning an attack on our military commanders.

Lieutenant General Campbell deserves far better than this. He deserves our respect. He deserves our admiration. The Australian public have given him that respect and that admiration through the awarding of the Order of Australia for the work he did in East Timor. They have recognised his distinguished service as he headed up all Australian troops in the Middle East. This is a man who deserves the greatest respect and admiration. And what did he get from the shadow minister for defence?

Comments

Peter Wesley-Smith
Posted on 27 Feb 2014 11:57 am

"Lieutenant General Campbell deserves far better than this. He deserves our respect. He deserves our admiration. The Australian public have given him that respect and that admiration through the awarding of the Order of Australia for the work he did in East Timor. They have recognised his distinguished service as he headed up all Australian troops in the Middle East. This is a man who deserves the greatest respect and admiration."

There is an obvious logical fallacy here. The claim that a fellow deserves respect and admiration and has given distinguished service does not mean that he is immune from criticism. If he is engaged in a political cover-up, even though he is ordered to do so by his civilian masters, he ought to be subject to accusations to that effect. Julie Bishop is merely engaging in huff and puff. Bill Shorten's response is as good as anything I've heard from him. The government is seeking as much political advantage as they can from Conroy's comment, in effect using Campbell for political purposes, which is precisely what they seem to be complaining about.