House debates

Thursday, 20 September 2007

Leader of the Opposition

2:58 pm

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition detailing to the House his smear allegation against the Prime Minister, the Liberal Party and the Government.

Is it accepted?

Opposition Members:

No.

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Not accepted. I then move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition detailing to the House his smear allegation against the Prime Minister, the Liberal Party and the Government.

I have moved to suspend the standing and sessional orders so that the Leader of the Opposition can come to this dispatch box now and, with his own mouth, make the allegations that he is putting through the member for Jagajaga and through the member for Grayndler, which he does not have the decency to put himself.

You cannot come into this place and sit there and pretend you have nothing to do with what is going on. You cannot come into this place and turn your back and studiously write nothing on a piece of paper and pretend that those who are getting up around you have nothing to do with you. I have an unfortunate fact for the Leader of the Opposition: these are your team. These are your people; they work on your instructions. As anybody who has been around this place long enough knows, nobody can come to the dispatch box on the opposition side and ask a question unless the Leader of the Opposition authorises them to do so. It is absolutely inconceivable that the member for Jagajaga could have walked to this dispatch box, could have put a slur on the Prime Minister, could have put a slur on the government, could have put a slur on the Liberal Party, except that she was authorised to do so by Kevin Rudd, the Leader of the Opposition.

As for this saintly persona, that he is some kind of pale imitation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer—that just makes the fraud worse, frankly. To hide behind this saintly image, when you are prepared to have other people go out and do your dirty work for you, actually makes the fraud worse.

So what are the allegations that are now being put by Kevin Rudd, the Leader of the Opposition, against the Prime Minister? The first insinuation and allegation that has been put is that somehow the Prime Minister, the government or the Liberal Party put out a story in relation to his health. Aside from wishing him a long life, which I am sure we all do, nobody on this side of the parliament has any interest at all in his medical conditions. I have no more interest in his medical conditions, or any of his frontbenchers’ medical conditions, than I hope they have interest in my medical conditions.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Oh? You do have great interest, do you? I would have thought that was a smear, was it not? Perhaps you could go and talk to people about it. But we find out, do we not, on the Channel 7 news today—and Channel 7 would know about this—that Smith, who I believe to be Stephen Smith, was out there quoted today, according to the news report, saying:

There was no need to dig dirt. Kevin Rudd revealed he had a transplant three and a half years ago on Seven Sunrise.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

All right, it wasn’t this Smith—it was another Smith. I take it back; it must have been a reporter—it was a Smith, certainly, because I have the transcript—who said:

There was no need to dig dirt. Kevin Rudd revealed he had a transplant three and a half years ago on Seven Sunrise.

So, far from this being a great secret, who in fact had revealed this piece of information? None other than the Leader of the Opposition himself! And when it becomes public, who does he try and frame up and fit up with the allegation? None other than the Prime Minister, the Liberal Party and the government. To think that the government would bother itself with a medical condition that occurred many years ago. He is on political life support; he is not on medical life support.

Here we were yesterday when he showed himself to be an ignoramus on tax policy. He cannot name a single rate; he cannot name a single threshold. He has been humiliated in the House of Representatives. And so what would be the logical thing for the government to do? Try and knock that story off the evening news bulletins with an old story about a heart condition? Who in their right mind would think about doing this? Who in their right mind might have the motivation to knock that story off the evening news? I was very surprised myself to see that this story came up last night and knocked the tax story down the batting order on Channel 9. We had the Leader of the Opposition sitting there giving one of his serious exclusives to Laurie Oakes in relation to the medical condition. All right, the medical condition came out last night—but to say that the government would have spiked its own story by putting that out yesterday beggars belief. Let us ask: what possible motivation would there have been? If you don’t want to look at motivation, let me say what the facts are: the government had nothing to do with that, the Liberal Party had nothing to do with that and the Prime Minister had nothing to do with that. To come in here and put up the member for Jagajaga to try and make that insinuation is low, base politics and it tells us something about the low, base nature of the Leader of the Opposition.

Just in case you thought this was not a planned tactic today, we then had the old member for Grayndler, old Mr Dirty Tricks himself, come to the dispatch box. He comes out with this article that was in the Australian some time ago—June, I think it was. Was he so concerned about it in June that he got up and asked a question when it was in the Australian? He has been asking about it every day since June, has he? Did he ask about it on Tuesday? Did he ask about it on Wednesday? So concerned about that article in June, he was, that he just happens to get up in a coordinated way, with the member for Jagajaga, and he says, ‘Poor old Kevin’—poor old Kevin has been subject to a bit of search and scrutiny in relation to his private affairs. I can tell you: I have been in public life for 17 years, I have been the Treasurer for 11 years, and it is not a new thing to have scrutiny of your personal life—it is not a new thing.

Mr Speaker, if you think somebody looking at your financials is a new thing, I do not think you were in this House when Gareth Evans got up and attacked my wife for owning shares. I do not think you were in the House when that happened. I do not think you were in the House when Alexander Downer’s wife was attacked. I do not think you were in the House when Paul Keating attacked Sir Alexander Downer as being some kind of war coward, although he had been a POW in Changi during the Second World War. Oh, boy, we have seen some attacks in this House over the years! We have seen some personal attacks. The Leader of the Opposition, far from having personal attacks, has probably had the easiest run from the media as a Leader of the Opposition in a very long period of time.

It has been an easy run but, at the first sign, he shows himself to be extremely fragile and extremely touchy. He is willing to try to impeach the reputation of other people in order to make a political point. This is not the character nor the behaviour of somebody who is ready to take tough decisions if he ever gets into a position of responsibility in this country. This is not the position of someone who wants to talk about policy. This is the last question time—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

It could well be the last question time before the election—and, as far as you are concerned, you would want it to be the last question time. But do we hear about policy? Do we hear about plans? Do we hear about any of those things? No, we hear an attempt to smear and we hear an attempt to divert. He ought to get on his feet and he ought to explain.

Photo of Bernie RipollBernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Ripoll interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Oxley will remove himself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Oxley then left the chamber.

3:07 pm

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: “this House repudiates the consistent, negative, year-long campaign by the Government against the Opposition, rather than advancing its own positive plans for Australia’s future”

Just now we have been witness to arrogance unleashed by the Treasurer, the would-be Prime Minister of this country, who has lacked courage year in and year out—month in, month out—and the ticker to do anything about his heartfelt aspirations and ambition to eliminate this man.

It does not take a lot of courage to wander around each restaurant in this town and badmouth the Prime Minister. It does not take a lot of courage to wander around the press gallery and badmouth the Prime Minister. It does not take a lot of courage in Melbourne, Treasurer, to wander around your favourite eating haunts and badmouth the Prime Minister. But it does take courage, conviction and commitment to stand up for your principles and stand for something. It takes courage and conviction to summon forth the courage and conviction to put your hand up and challenge this man for the leadership of the Liberal Party—courage and conviction which you have lacked all year. Now you have to be defended by—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I have not called the Leader of the Opposition.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition has the call!

Opposition Members:

You called him the Leader of the Opposition.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! I have called the Leader of the House. I cannot hear him, and nor I think can anyone else. The Leader of the House has the call and he will be heard.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, this is a point of order on relevance. This motion is about the opposition leader substantiating his smear. He has to substantiate his smear. He can pass all the character—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the House is raising a point of order, and I am having great difficulty hearing a single word.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition can cast all the reflections that he likes on the Treasurer’s character, but he is required by the motion to substantiate the smear. You should require him to substantiate the smear and debate the motion.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will resume his seat. The Treasurer has moved a motion to suspend standing orders and the Leader of the Opposition has moved an amendment. I call the Leader of the Opposition—and, in calling him, I would ask all members to show a little bit more courtesy.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

When it comes to the behaviour of this Treasurer, the gap between courage and performance, the gap between a person who consistently and routinely badmouths the Prime Minister yet who stands up at the ‘bully pulpit’ of the ministerial dispatch box and then proclaims to the country at large that he is a person of strong heart and strong courage, underlines the deep hypocrisy which resides in your breast.

When it comes to the whole question of negative smear tactics, why are these matters raised in the parliament? In the last 24 hours, we have had the extraordinary spectacle of the chief of staff of the Special Minister of State engaging in a campaign of personal smear and innuendo against the Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro, Colonel Mike Kelly. His curriculum vitae describes what he has done, including being deployed to Somalia with Operation Restore Hope, and Legal Adviser, First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Battalion Group. Yet what we have, Prime Minister, is your chief of staff in the office of that minister going out and describing Mike Kelly as a representative of the Belsen guards.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, this is a relevance point of order. He makes serious—

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition is in order. I call the Leader of the Opposition.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

On the question of the engagement by the chief of staff of the Special Minister of State, we see a pattern of behaviour on behalf of this government and the Leader of the House sitting there sanctimoniously believing that he is not aware of the negative campaigns being run against various members of the opposition over time. Frankly, it flies in the face of the facts. When it comes to the activities most recently engaged in—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the Leader of the Opposition has accused me of complicity in a smear campaign. What is his evidence? How can he substantiate his claims?

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, will you take action against the Leader of the House?

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will not reflect on the chair. The Leader of the Opposition is in order. The Leader of the House has an opportunity to debate this matter further if he wishes to.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

The purpose of the parliament is for the opposition to pose questions to the executive and the purpose of the parliament is to get answers from the executive. When, therefore, we have a report in the nation’s newspaper, in an article by Hedley Thomas, which says, ‘Liberal Party figures in Queensland including a forensic accountant had been examining the purchase of links between the vendors and the Labor Party’s investment companies for several months,’ I would have thought that a forum for asking whether or not that is true is the parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. What we know for a fact is that, whenever asked beyond this place as to the truth of these things, the actual pressure placed on ministers to answer truthfully is much less than that which applies in this place.

Photo of Fran BaileyFran Bailey (McEwen, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business and Tourism) Share this | | Hansard source

Fran Bailey interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Minister for Small Business and Tourism is warned!

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

The second question is this. We then had an article most recently by Jason Koutsoukis in the Sunday Age, which began:

THE phone rang one evening last week—

this is on 9 September—

and a familiar voice at the other end said: “I’ve got something for you. It’s hot.” So hot, I thought I could hear it sizzling. Come down for a “chat”, the man suggested. All very hush-hush and strictly on the QT.

Walking through the corridors of power to meet my trusted source, dreaming of Watergate, I half wished we were meeting in a dingy car park and not the plush ministerial suite where I was headed.

Into the meeting room I waltzed and there was my source beaming behind two glasses of red and a fat manila folder with the most misunderstood noun in the Coalition lexicon scrawled across the front: Gillard.

That is only two weeks old. The sensitivity on the part of the Leader of the House, the Treasurer and the Prime Minister—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! Members on my right! The Leader of the Opposition has the right to be heard.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

When these uncomfortable questions are asked of the government, they wish to engage in all sorts of feigned outrage as if these things have never happened, that Mr Koutsoukis made all that up, that Hedley Thomas made all that up. The bare minimum level of accountability is to have, in fact, an answer to these questions.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! Members on my right!

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

On the question that you raised in relation to medical documents—

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Abbott interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the House is warned!

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

there has been reference some years ago to my being the recipient of an organ transplant but never a representation of any cardiac procedure. That is the first time that has been put into the public debate and those opposite know it. Treasurer, you aspire to be the Prime Minister of this country. You have moved this motion in the House. You lack the courage to ever be Prime Minister of this country. (Time expired)

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Is the amendment moved by the Leader of the Opposition seconded?

3:19 pm

Photo of Julia GillardJulia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I second the amendment.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Does the Deputy Leader wish to speak?

Photo of Julia GillardJulia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I am more than happy to, Mr Speaker. Over there we have them carrying on as if offended by the allegation that they put together dirt files, as if offended by the allegation that they go after members of this parliament personally, when the evidence is there for all to see. Let us listen to the evidence. We have spent this week hearing about how a government staff member, a chief of staff to a minister, made one of the most repulsive allegations you can make against another human being—that is, to compare them to a Nazi, to someone who administered a concentration camp where thousands of people died. When we first raised that in this parliament, what action or what answer did we get from the Howard government? Not an answer about immediate action, not an answer about revulsion, not an answer about how they were disgusted by that remark—no. On the first occasion the minister walked to the dispatch box, he squirmed and said absolutely nothing.

Then, on the second occasion he walked to the dispatch box, he obviously thought better of it and sought to distance himself—ever so softly—from the remark. Of course, his chief of staff had been out that morning basically carrying on and justifying himself. It took absolutely hours for this matter to finally end up in an apology from the staff member involved and still, of course, no Howard government minister—not one of them—has taken any meaningful action about this matter.

Then on the matter that the Leader of the Opposition referred to, which dealt with me, what we know, on the public record, is that a journalist, Jason Koutsoukis, was invited down to a meeting in a ministerial suite for the purpose of being supplied with a file with my name on it which had been trawled through the press gallery as a dirt file. I am not saying, when we look at this, that we should be talking about the contents—I do not know what the contents are; the dirt file has not been supplied to me—but the suggestion—

Photo of Alexander DownerAlexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

It’s never been used!

Photo of Julia GillardJulia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

It has been used, Foreign Minister, because someone in this government sat in a ministerial suite and gave it to a journalist.

Photo of Alexander DownerAlexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Downer interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Minister for Foreign Affairs!

Photo of Alexander DownerAlexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Downer interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is warned!

Photo of Julia GillardJulia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

For the members of this government to suggest that somehow they are mortally offended by the suggestion that they peddle dirt—how does anyone explain that? Whose office was it? Do we have an answer to that? Whose office was it, Prime Minister? You are so concerned about the reputation of your government, are you going to make inquiries about that? Are you going to make sure you find out the truth about that? That is all right, is it? Your little moral outrage only goes so far and under the moral outrage on the surface there is all of this unseemly conduct going on underneath that you avert your eyes from but you know is occurring—you must know is occurring. So do not come into this parliament with a holier-than-thou attitude when, beneath this modicum of moral outrage on the surface, underneath we have the trawling, the dirt and the carry-on.

We come to question time in this parliament and we ask questions for the purpose of getting answers. What do we routinely see from ministers in this government? We see evasion and we see personal attacks. Indeed, the only thing some government ministers do in this place during question time is make personal attacks—the only thing they do. When they are asked questions by their own backbench about government policy, they are lucky if there are two or three words about government policy and the rest of it is personal attack. This is the ordinary stock-in-trade of this government when it comes to the prosecution of its politics, and we know that this is just the start and that there are weeks and weeks of this to come in the future. It has been talked about. It has been rumoured.

Government Members:

Government members interjectingRumoured!

Photo of Julia GillardJulia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Rumoured by this government and its members who have put out little teasers to the press about what is to come. We know that this is what they peddle under the surface. The truth is that you members of the government frontbench know it. Members of the backbench know it as well. So let us not fall for this overacting, absurd display. (Time expired)

3:24 pm

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended to enable debate continuing until 3.34 pm—

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

A point of order, Mr Speaker.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will resume his seat. The Leader of the House has the call and I will hear what—

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Point of order, Mr Speaker!

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will resume his seat or I will deal with him.

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

I am moving a point of order, Mr Speaker.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

You cannot move a point of order.

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Yes, I can.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Not while I am in the middle of moving a motion.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the House has the call and I will hear the Leader of the House. The member for Grayndler will resume his seat.

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

The time for debate has expired.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

It has not. The member for Grayndler will resume his seat. I call the Leader of the House.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended to enable debate continuing until 3.34 pm and the Prime Minister being called to speak for a period not exceeding 10 minutes—

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Point of order, Mr Speaker.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business.

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the time allocated for a suspension of standing orders is 25 minutes. It has expired.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat.

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the House—

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat or I will deal with him! The Leader of the House was called before the expiration of the time and the Leader of the House has now moved an extension of the time.

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Point of order, Mr Speaker!

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business!

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Point of order, Mr Speaker! Ten, plus 10, plus five equals 25, Mr Speaker—

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I warn the Manager of Opposition Business!

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

and time had expired.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I name the Manager of Opposition Business!

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Time had expired, Mr Speaker.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the House.

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | | Hansard source

You are an embarrassment!

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That the member for Grayndler be suspended from the service of the House.

Question put.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Grayndler is suspended from the service of the House for 24 hours.

The member for Grayndler then left the chamber.

3:39 pm

Photo of Harry JenkinsHarry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, as my motion has not been stated to the House, I therefore withdraw it and move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Prime Minister speaking without interruption for 10 minutes on the question that the words proposed to be omitted by the Leader of the Opposition stand part of the question.

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Under standing order 67, may I request that you, Mr Speaker, state the question that is before you at the moment.

The question that is before the House is a new motion just put by the Leader of the House. He has withdrawn his earlier motion. I will read the motion for the benefit of the House.

Mr Speaker, on a further point of order before you do that—

Mr McGauran interjecting

Just listen, Ginger. Mr Speaker, you have not stated that question. The Leader of the House may have moved it, but you have not stated it. It is not the business before the House.

Government members interjecting

The Speaker has not stated it. He does that at the end of the mover’s debate.

I thank the member for Scullin and I will respond to him. The Leader of the House had the call and then we had, shall we say, a diversion where there was some disciplinary action taken. Therefore, the call that had been given to the Leader of the House was restated. The Leader of the House has now put a motion. I will read the motion. He has moved:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Prime Minister speaking without interruption for 10 minutes on the question that the words proposed to be omitted by the Leader of the Opposition stand part of the question.

3:42 pm

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I intend to move an amendment to the motion you have just read. This will provide the House with an opportunity, on what the Treasurer has indicated is its last day, for the Prime Minister to put to the Australian people his plan for Australia’s future. The Treasurer has said often that he wishes to be Prime Minister—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.

3:47 pm

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That the question be now put.

Question put.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I now put the question on the motion moved by the Leader of the House.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The House has just resolved that the motion be put.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

I have a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am entitled to raise a point of order. The point of order is: I would ask you to rule on the meaning of the term ‘without interruption’ in the motion. Does this mean that the Prime Minister is able to make any accusation, any claim, without the right of a member to make a point of order or to demand a withdrawal? Is that the meaning of the term ‘without interruption’ in this motion—to protect him from the kind of the treatment that the Leader of the House put out to the Leader of the Opposition while he was speaking?

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne will resume his seat. I say to the member for Melbourne: until the motion has actually been put and agreed to, that is a hypothetical question.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Member for Melbourne, I have a motion before the chair; I have to deal with it.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I have taken note of the member for Melbourne. The member for Melbourne will resume his seat. The question is that so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Prime Minister speaking without interruption for 10 minutes on the question that the words proposed to be omitted by the Leader of the Opposition stand part of the question.

Question agreed to.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I invite you to rule as to the meaning of the phrase ‘without interruption’ that has just been passed by the House, as to whether that means that if the Prime Minister makes any accusation against a member that member is unable to respond and if the Prime Minister makes any claim nobody can raise a point of order. Is that your interpretation?

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne will resume his seat, and I will respond to his question. My interpretation is that ‘without interruption’ means no points of order. If another member wishes to move a further motion—

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne will resume his seat. If another member wishes to move another motion in response to anything that may be raised during this debate then of course there are procedures of the House. I call the Prime Minister.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I have called the Prime Minister, and the member for Melbourne will resume his seat.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne will resume his seat or I will deal with him.

3:57 pm

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I know it seems quite a long time ago but this issue started when the member for Jagajaga asked me a question, which we all know was more an accusation than a question. What in effect the member for Jagajaga was doing, presumably with the authority of the Leader of the Opposition, was alleging that either I or, with my knowledge, members of the government had raised issues about the physical health of the Leader of the Opposition. That is how it started. By any measure, by any use of the English language, an accusation of that kind in the absence of evidence supporting it represents about the basest possible smear that can be made in this place. That is why we decided to move a motion inviting the true author of that base accusation to substantiate to the parliament why he believed that I or members of my government were responsible for smearing him in relation to his health.

Can I say this, through you, Mr Speaker, to the Leader of the Opposition: as an individual I bear him no malice. I do not wish him well politically but I wish him no harm on a personal basis, nor do I wish him other than a long and healthy and happy life as an individual. I would suggest that any Australians in the gallery that may be listening to this debate are, frankly, if I can put it bluntly, more interested in the health of their nation than they are in the health of either the Leader of the Opposition or me.

Photo of Julie OwensJulie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Ms Owens interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Parramatta is warned!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

It passes strange that a few moments ago the Leader of the Opposition raised this issue—‘Oh, the Prime Minister and I should be debating our respective future plans for the government of the country.’ Not a bad point! I might say rhetorically in reply: why on earth therefore did the Leader of the Opposition waste a question through the mouth of the member for Jagajaga about a smear instead of asking me a question about the policy of the government?

Photo of Julia GillardJulia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Ms Gillard interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

Let me state it very simply to those who sit opposite. The allegation made by the member for Jagajaga is baseless. The allegation made by the Leader of the Opposition is baseless.

Photo of Bob McMullanBob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr McMullan interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Fraser!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

We have not been spreading smears about the Leader of the Opposition’s health.

Photo of Jenny MacklinJenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services) Share this | | Hansard source

Ms Macklin interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Jagajaga is warned!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I am a great believer in the doctrine of coincidence in politics. What is coincidental? Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition by any measure had a very bad day.

Photo of Julia GillardJulia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Ms Gillard interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is warned!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

He had a very bad day: he couldn’t answer the most simple question about taxation. Then we have questions raised in the parliament about that issue and then we go on to the evening news bulletins and out of the blue—

Photo of Bob McMullanBob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr McMullan interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Fraser is warned!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I have to say I was totally surprised to turn on the Channel 9 news. I was expecting Laurie Oakes to have a concoction of the Rudd gaffe on tax and some of the byplay and exchange in relation to the remarks made by the chief of staff of the Special Minister of State. I thought that would be the Oakes package, and I thought to myself, ‘Well, I hope there’s more of Rudd’s mistake’—I’ll be honest about it—‘than there is about the other issue,’ and I think you would understand why I would say that. Then quite out of the blue we have this astonishing thing, this reference to the Leader of the Opposition’s health. Isn’t that interesting?

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Costello interjecting

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

Yes, with an exclusive. But isn’t that coincidental? As the Treasurer rightly said, why on earth would we spike our own story? If I were a suspicious person—and I am not; I think charitably towards the Leader of the Opposition in relation to these matters—I would say to myself, ‘Well, I don’t think that story has come from our side of politics; I think that story may have come from another side of politics.’ I am not normally a suspicious person but I may well have thought that.

But let me take this opportunity of saying we are not interested in smearing the Leader of the Opposition as an individual; we never have been. What the Labor Party has endeavoured to do all of this year is to construct in the minds of the Australian people the belief that any attack on the Leader of the Opposition is a personal smear of the Leader of the Opposition, that you are not allowed to criticise the Leader of the Opposition, that he is the one political leader in Australian history who we are not entitled to question or we are not entitled to attack.

Photo of Nicola RoxonNicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | | Hansard source

Ms Roxon interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Gellibrand!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

He keeps coming out in the press and he says there is going to be a mother of all fear campaigns. I can tell the Leader of the Opposition that we will be telling the Australian people, when the election campaign starts, of the danger of electing a union dominated government. We will be telling the Australian people of the danger to good government in this country of having a Labor government federally as well as a Labor government in power in each of the states and the territories.

Photo of Wayne SwanWayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Swan interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Lilley is warned!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

We will be telling the Australian people that it is not a good thing to place the management of the Australian economy in the hands of inexperienced people who do not, for example, understand our taxation system at a time when international storm clouds are threatening the stability of the international economy. This, more that at any time over the last five years, is a time for the Australian economy to be in strong, experienced hands, in the hands of people who understand how to withstand the ravages of international economic buffeting.

The Leader of the Opposition would say to the Australian people: ‘Oh, they can’t say that about me. It’s a smear.’ Could I remind the Leader of the Opposition that he has only been in politics since 1998 and a number of us have been in politics for a long time. If he imagines that what has been said about his lack of experience, what has been said about his knowledge deficit in relation to taxation and what has been said about his glass jaw represent a personal attack and a personal smear, can I say to the Leader of the Opposition, through you, Mr Speaker: you haven’t been born.

Photo of Lindsay TannerLindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Melbourne is on very thin ice.

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I remember the day my predecessor pointed at Alexander Downer—I have never forgotten it—and accused his father of being part of the appeasement brigade in the late 1930s and called into question the courage of a man who spent four years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese on the Burma-Thailand railway.

Photo of Nicola RoxonNicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | | Hansard source

Ms Roxon interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

Order! The member for Gellibrand is warned!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

And yet the Labor Party sat there and they were perfectly happy to have that. I can remember the Leader of the Opposition jumping up when his predecessor but one—Mark Latham—used one of the most vulgar expressions I have ever heard used in this parliament about a female journalist, and we all know what I am referring to. I remember the deafening silence of the Leader of the Opposition. I remember the deafening silence of all the female members of the Australian Labor Party—not one of them got up to condemn that foul insinuation about Janet Albrechtsen.

I also remember the deafening silence of the Leader of the Opposition when Mark Latham referred to Tony Staley’s physical disability, occasioned by a motor car accident that almost claimed his life. Tony’s life hung in the balance for 12 months, and to this day he is walking with the benefit only of crutches.

Photo of Peter GarrettPeter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Garrett interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Kingsford Smith is warned!

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition thinks he has been smeared because people dare to criticise his policies. He has not been born in Australian politics to understand that. I regard the attempt by the Labor Party to implicate us in this smear as a base diversion. The Leader of the Opposition has utterly failed to produce any evidence to support his claim. What is more, he was too gutless to ask the question himself. He should have got up at the first instance. He did not have the courage to do that and he stands condemned as a result. (Time expired)

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The time for the extension of the debate has now expired. The original question was that the motion be agreed to, to which the Leader of the Opposition has moved as an amendment that all words after ‘That’ be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.

Question put.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The question now is that the motion for suspension of standing orders moved by the Treasurer be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

4:20 pm

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

One of the interesting things about the debate in the chamber this afternoon is that the Prime Minister has just required a prime ministerial protection order from interventions. If this is a serious debate about matters before the House and matters before the nation, why is that particular procedural device necessary to protect the Prime Minister from the indignity of points of order? I find it extraordinary that the Leader of the House would seek to protect the Prime Minister in such a fashion rather than allow the Prime Minister to fend for himself, as other members of this chamber are required to do.

The motion before us asks why these questions have been put to the parliament today. The answer is that the function of the parliament is to provide the executive with the opportunity to answer questions put to it by the opposition. These are matters which therefore demand answers. What we have had from those opposite today is a sense of continued feigned indignation, as if any negative smear campaign has been mysteriously pulled out of space, with which those opposite have had nothing whatsoever to do—no awareness whatsoever on the part of the Prime Minister or on the part of anybody else. But look carefully at the Prime Minister’s response to the questions which were asked: ‘I, the Prime Minister, have no awareness of any such activity. I am not responsible for it and I am not aware of others in the Liberal Party and the government.’ We have heard that through ‘children overboard’; we have heard that through the ‘wheat for weapons’ scandal; we have heard it time in and time out as you have sought to avoid accountability in this parliament.

Photo of Nicola RoxonNicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | | Hansard source

Ms Roxon interjecting

Photo of Ian CausleyIan Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Gellibrand has been warned!

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order. The motion that the House has passed requires the Leader of the Opposition to detail to the House his smear allegations against the Prime Minister. He needs to speak to the motion.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting

Photo of Ian CausleyIan Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

There is no point of order. I warn members that a number have been warned and I will not give them another warning.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I find it interesting also that, apart from the prime ministerial protection order issued by the Leader of the House, the Prime Minister has cut and run from the chamber altogether on these matters. I find it remarkable that a government of courage and a Prime Minister of courage have to hide behind such procedural devices to avoid accountability.

There is a big problem with the argument advanced by the Prime Minister today. The Prime Minister’s conspiracy theory runs along these lines: after a press conference I conducted at Queanbeyan yesterday, I came back into this chamber and organised through my office an exclusive interview with Laurie Oakes. That is the proposition; the Prime Minister just put that. There is a little problem with that conspiracy theory, because Laurie Oakes came and saw me yesterday morning before I went anywhere near Queanbeyan. Laurie Oakes came to my office to put these particular matters which had been put to him. So the prime ministerial conspiracy theory is that we have a press conference out at Queanbeyan—

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Costello interjecting

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

also put by this man, who lacks the courage ever to become Prime Minister—only courage enough to whisper innuendo about his Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is not here. What we have here is the Prime Minister advancing a conspiracy theory which collapses in a heap. The journalist in question, Laurie Oakes, one of the most respected figures in the gallery, came to me yesterday morning before we went anywhere near Queanbeyan and put to me the specific propositions. The conspiracy theory collapses in a heap.

The second point is that other media outlets later in the day also contacted by my office confirmed that the same story was being shopped around—a remarkable coincidence, it seems. And again we have the Leader of the House refusing—

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order. Is he saying that Laurie Oakes said the government said this?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting

Photo of Ian CausleyIan Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

What is the point of order? I could not hear it. If the members would be quiet, I might hear it.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the point of order is relevance to the motion. Is the Leader of the Opposition saying that Laurie Oakes claimed the government gave him this evidence?

Photo of Ian CausleyIan Causley (Page, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

That is not a point of order.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Two other media outlets confirmed subsequently that this story had been shopped to them in recent days. Furthermore, we are advised that this story had come forward from a source hostile to the Labor Party. Furthermore, the contents of the story ran along these lines: it contained the date of the medical procedure which I had, it had also the details of the doctor who supposedly performed the procedure, though the name of the doctor was not given to me, and, furthermore, there was a further view put that the source had said that the durability of the aortic valve used in the replacement surgery had a finite duration, it would last 10 years, and therefore my health was in some peril. This was not put to one media outlet; it was put to, we have at least confirmed, three media outlets.

Prime Minister, you were absent from this: the approach from Laurie Oakes came before I went anywhere near Queanbeyan yesterday. Your entire conspiracy theory collapsed in a heap while you were absent from the chamber.

Years ago—and this matter has been raised, I think, by someone opposite—in an interview, I think on Channel 7, we were asked about organ donations. I said I supported organ donations because I had been the beneficiary of one. Furthermore, in private conversations with cardiac patients at various times who have sought some counsel and support I have provided whatever counsel and support that I could.

On top of that can I say this: the three sets of information which these journalists put to me yesterday have never, ever been put into the public domain. We were therefore put in a position where I had to respond to the matters which had been put. The reason why the question was put in this House today is that the job of the parliament is to get an answer back from the executive as to whether these things are true. But it does not stop there. The question is asked, particularly by the Leader of the House, as to why we could possibly suspect that the government may be involved in anything untoward. Here we have, in the Sunday Telegraph from 29 August 2007, ‘Dig round and you’ll soon find a dirt unit’, an article by Simon Benson. It involves an interview involving a radio host, Bill Shorten and Tony Abbott. Bill Shorten says:

“Tony, are you saying you don’t have a dirt unit and it doesn’t have people trying to scour up the backgrounds of Labor candidates?”

The answer from Tony Abbott:

“Of course ...

Government Members:

Government members interjecting

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I am reading a transcript.

TONY ABBOTT: “Of course. Obviously you want to look at the files and all that kind of stuff.”

That is the question which was put to him by Bill Shorten in that interview, and that was the response of the Leader of the House. That is the transcript. So you ask with this feigned innocence and indignation why we in the opposition might dare suspect that you guys might be up to no good. I think there is a reasonable basis for looking at that.

Furthermore, when you look at the other matters which have been put into the public debate on all of this, the other matter which was canvassed today in a question goes to the report by Hedley Thomas in the Australian. The report by Hedley Thomas is quite explicit:

Liberal Party figures in Queensland, including a forensic accountant, have been examining the purchase, and the links between the vendors—

referring to the purchase of a house by my wife and me—

and the Labor Party’s investment companies, for several months.

If that is in the public record and it is there from Hedley Thomas, who is a longstanding journalist with News Ltd, it is equally legitimate to put this matter for the government to seek a response to. But, on top of that, is the government saying that Jason Koutsoukis lies through his teeth—this is the term of art used by those opposite? Jason Koutsoukis, only a couple of weeks ago or less, details precisely his visit to a ministerial suite to be handed a file which has ‘Gillard’ on the top and deals explicitly with a whole series of allegations concerning the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. And you sit there opposite believing you are purer than the driven snow. It is remarkable—the feigned indignation about these questions, including from Captain Courageous over there, the would-be Prime Minister without any intestinal fortitude whatsoever to ever stand up to the plate and say: ‘I would like to be Prime Minister. I would like to have the guts to challenge the Prime Minister. But—oops!—I’ll step back from the plate again.’ Always privately lacking courage and lacking conviction, always whispering behind people’s backs but never with the fortitude, the conviction, to stand up to the plate and actually challenge the government’s leader, the leader of the Liberal Party, for his job.

Debate interrupted; adjournment proposed and negatived.

Then we have the question that concerns the activities of those in the government dirt unit, which we have already referred to in detail concerning Dr Phelps, the chief of staff of the Special Minister of State. The truth of these propositions—and I have only been through three of them: the Koutsoukos article, the Hedley Thomas article, the confession by Tony Abbott in the Sunday Telegraph, as well as all these related matters—points to the fact that these matters should be answered by the Leader of the House or the government itself.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I know this is a debate but he is not entitled to misrepresent me like that. It is a blatant, deliberate misrepresentation and Dietrich Bonhoeffer should not do that.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will resume his seat. That is not a point of order.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

In terms of misrepresentation about the existence of a dirt unit, it is extraordinary that the Leader of the House could stand in the chamber and say that it does not exist when, out of his own mouth, he says that it does. The question put to him by Bill Shorten was:

Tony, are you saying you don’t have a dirt unit and it doesn’t have people trying to scour up the backgrounds of Labor candidates?

The answer was then:

TONY ABBOTT: “Of course. Obviously you want to look at the files and all that kind of stuff.”

What has happened here is, of course, that the Leader of the House has been hoist with his own petard, hung out by the words that have proceeded from his own mouth, confirming, less than a month ago—on Melbourne radio, I presume—that in fact this dirt unit does exist and engages in that sort of activity.

The feigned indignation becomes much wider than that. Let us remember a certain individual called Senator Heffernan. The Prime Minister has made reference to all these indignations in the past. Prime Minister, you have a responsibility when it comes to either backing or overturning remarks by Senator Heffernan. What did Senator Heffernan have to say about the Deputy Leader of the Opposition? And what did you say in response to that immediately? ‘But look, I’m not telling people what they should apologise for or not; I’m just stating my own view.’ In other words, when that foul language was used by Senator Heffernan in relation to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, what the Prime Minister sought to do was quickly step to one side—’Nothing to do with me; it’s old Bill there, running off the tracks. I don’t have anything to do with that.’ Then what happens? The heat gets too much, the political reaction around the country gets too solid and suddenly the Prime Minister has to change his tune later on. The reason we moved an amendment earlier on, which the government was not prepared to take, was that all these questions go to the absolute heart of the integrity of the operations of this government.

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Howard interjecting

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Oh yes it does, Prime Minister! It goes to the whole question of a government grown arrogant, grown out of touch after 11 long years in office, a government that has now sought to use all the instruments available to it in terms of the public servants who work for it, in terms of its own ministerial staff, in terms of the rort and abuse of taxpayer funded advertising—

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The standing and sessional orders have been suspended to allow the Leader of the Opposition to detail to the House his smear allegations against the Prime Minister, the Liberal Party and the government. I would ask you to bring him back to detail the smear allegations that he makes against the Prime Minister, the Liberal Party and the government.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition, I am sure, heard that point of order. I ask him to come back to the debate.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

On the question of the glass jaw of the Treasurer, and his inability to respond to the matters which have been raised, it stands for the entire chamber to hear. We have been through, point by point, each of the matters which have required answers by the government opposite. Why is there this feigned indignation from those opposite? Because they do not want to answer the questions. They do not want to answer whose ministerial suite it was where someone provided a dirt file in relation to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Whose was it? Have you bothered to check that out? Who is the forensic accountant referred to over here in the other article? Have you bothered to check that out? Has the government also bothered to ascertain precisely what has happened with Tony Abbott’s admission—

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The standing and sessional orders have been suspended to allow the Leader of the Opposition to detail the smear allegations to the House. I would ask that you bring him back to detailing those allegations.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The point of order raised by the Treasurer is a valid point of order. The Leader of the Opposition has been asked to provide evidence and the Leader of the Opposition will come back to the motion.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

On the question of the Laurie Oakes matter—and you were out of the chamber for this, Prime Minister—let me put it before you pure and simple: your contention here in this place was that a conspiracy had been engaged in by me with a journalist to do an exclusive interview subsequent to a press conference at Queanbeyan yesterday, and your conspiracy collapsed into a heap. Do you know why, Prime Minister? Because Laurie Oakes came to see me before I went anywhere near Queanbeyan. Three journalists came to us with the pieces of information that I referred to before, and we were also informed that the sources came from those hostile to the Labor Party.

Photo of Kevin AndrewsKevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order that goes to the wording of the motion. We ask the Leader of the Opposition to give us just once piece of evidence—just one piece.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

As I hear it, I believe the Leader of the Opposition is in order. Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, I would ask him to desist from using the words ‘you’ and ‘your’.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Each of those reports to us by the media caused us to conclude, given the nature of the information, that legitimate questions needed to be posed. What is remarkable here is the feigned indignation from those opposite about where this material came from. It would have been very simple and straightforward for an unequivocal statement to be made about these matters, and it was not.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I will warn other members if they continue to interject like that.

Photo of Tony AbbottTony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. Did Laurie Oakes say that the government gave him the information?

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

I say to the Leader of the House that the Leader of the Opposition is in order and he has the call.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I notice that once again the Leader of the House does not seek to extend the same sort of procedural protection to the likes of me as he sought to extend to the Prime Minister, and did so successfully. Once again, there is a series of interruptions as the response provided by me is delivered. Prime Minister, the country wants to have a debate about plans for the future. Do you know something, Prime Minister: you were extended that opportunity in the parliament today and you declined. The nation wants to know what your plans are for the future of the education system, because there is nothing there.

Photo of Michael FergusonMichael Ferguson (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Michael Ferguson interjecting

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The member for Bass is warned!

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

They want to know what your plans are for the future of 750 public hospitals in the country, and they are not there. They want to know what your plans are for the future of broadband, and they are not there.

Photo of Peter CostelloPeter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Standing and sessional orders have been suspended to allow the Leader of the Opposition to detail his smear allegation against the government. I ask that you bring him back to that.

Photo of David HawkerDavid Hawker (Speaker) Share this | | Hansard source

The Treasurer has raised a valid point of order. I say to the Leader of the Opposition that if that point of order is alluded to again he will have to resume his seat.

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

On the question of our allegation against this government, I conclude with this: this government stands condemned for having lost touch. It is a government that has no positive plans for the future but is instead determined to wage an unrelenting negative smear campaign against the opposition from here until election day—an election day which Captain Arrogance over there has already announced on behalf of his Prime Minister.

Photo of John HowardJohn Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.