Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does the member for Bass claim to have been misrepresented?

Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do indeed.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bass may proceed.

Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During a speech in the Senate on Monday, 30 November, Greens Senator Nick McKim referred to me and those who voted for the Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015 as 'extremists'. He said:

They are extremists, Senator Rice; I could not agree more.

He went on to criticise the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and he called Labor's bipartisan support for this bill:

… a disgraceful abuse … outrageous collusion between the government and … the Labor Party.

Senator McKim is wrong to refer to his parliamentary colleagues, including me, as extremists—the very threat our national security laws seek to address. He is wrong to question the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which has produced 136 bipartisan recommendations, and I call on him to unconditionally withdraw his ill-considered remarks.