Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Yesterday and today we have seen the Attorney-General and the rest of his government reach a new and shocking low. When people like the Attorney-General or the Prime Minister of Australia, with all of the power of government, use their positions to bully and intimidate independent statutory office holders then we should suspend standing orders to discuss this matter. The actions yesterday—and as much as the Prime Minister and Attorney-General want to say it is not the real issue—when powerful men in remarkable positions of strength use their authority not to lead the nation but to attack critics then we have a severe problem with the strength of our community and our government in this country.

I understand that the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and members of the government may not approve of the President of the Human Rights Commission's report, but what I do not understand is that, rather than dealing with the issues in the report, what they have done is attack her character. They have attacked her character. What we also saw yesterday was the embarrassing and scandalous situation where the President of the Human Rights Commission was forced to sit two people down from the Attorney-General, a target as the Attorney-General turned on her and attacked her. Then we saw she had to put up with the assassination of her character by the Attorney-General and by this man. We have seen an assassination of character. This is the tool in trade. I believe Australians are sick and tired of an angry Tony Abbott. I believe Australians are sick and tired of the constant overreach of the Prime Minister of Australia.

Being Prime Minister of Australia is a remarkable privilege. It is a bully pulpit to be able to advocate ideas.

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