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

I withdraw. Imagine the first meeting of this said coalition. Imagine when they came together. You've got the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Canavan, the member for New England and Senator Hanson talking tactics about how they're going to oppose sensible reform. But I think we all would love to know who's going to be the leader of this said coalition. If you go on raw numbers in the parliament, then it probably should be the Leader of the Opposition. But, when you look at recent polling and you look at recent trends, the trend is not his friend. The trend is not his friend, particularly when you look at the outcome of the Farrer by-election, where we know the Liberal Party lost a blue ribbon seat to their friends in One Nation. And the ironic thing is that they did it on the back of preferences from the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party helped One Nation get up in the Farrer by-election. Fantastic. Great move. Well done, Leader of the Opposition; you helped elect One Nation to one of your blue ribbon seats. This motion should be opposed—

Debate interrupted.

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