Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is appropriate that I follow that nonsense from the member for Dawson just now because members of this place will know well that there is plenty of nonsense spouted on the website Twitter.com. Crazy people can say anything they want on this platform, especially in the so-called alt-Right—the anti-establishment right-wing conservatives that have taken over the platform in recent times. And I came across a cracking example of this today from a Twitter account called @Barnaby_Joyce—the Deputy Prime Minister, I believe, not a parity account. This tweet said:

Backpacker tax would never be 32%. We fought to take it to 19%. We said it would be resolved by Christmas. Welcome 15% break-through.

This was said despite the Deputy Prime Minister being a member of the Expenditure Review Committee that approved this measure; despite him being a member of the cabinet that approved this measure; despite him being a member of this parliament that debated this in the last budget.

This is beyond alt-Right; this is alt-reality. This is what we have come to expect from those opposite. But they cannot pretend that this shambolic, nonsensical policy-making process did not occur. They cannot mislead the Australian public and pretend that this embarrassing shambles of a policy-making process never occurred. They need to take responsibility for their actions. This would not have occurred if they had not initiated it in the first place. They should be honest with the Australian public and they should clean up their act in the future.

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