Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

What a disgraceful abuse of parliamentary privilege by the member for Goldstein!

When the hearings began, they treated the hearings of the committee like a Liberal Party branch meeting. When we went to the hearings, we had Liberal Party election posters at the front of the venues. When we were in Queensland, the member for Fisher gave evidence to the committee and then encouraged members of the crowd to sign up to the Liberal-National Party. After the members of the crowd had all stopped laughing, he went around the room handing out Liberal Party membership forms. Mr Deputy Speaker, I might remind you that this was an official hearing of the House of Representatives Economics Committee.

In the ultimate insult to the integrity of the House of Representatives Economics Committee, the member for Mackellar over there held a fundraiser after one of the hearings, and guess who he invited to speak. The member for Goldstein!

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