Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry representing the Minister for Defence. Will the minister outline to the House why it is important to exercise good judgement on matters of national security? Minister, what are the risks associated with alternative approaches?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Barker for his question. I know that he recognises the seriousness of national security, of foreign affairs and of defence, and how, to be serious about national security and foreign affairs and defence, you have to have a consistent approach to it. That applies not only to the government but also to the alternative government. Countries around the world are looking to Australia to see what our policies are on national security, that they have been consistently applied and that they remain regular into the future.

So the problem for the Leader of the Opposition is that he cannot have any credibility on national security so long as Senator Dastyari sits in the caucus of the Labor Party, because what Senator Dastyari does by sitting in the caucus is remind countries around the world that Labor has not had a consistent, reliable approach to national security. The problem for the Leader of the Opposition is that he can't act against Senator Dastyari, because he's hopelessly compromised by the role that Senator Dastyari played in the Leader of the Opposition's election as leader of the Labor Party. The questions around that ballot—around the missing 50 ballot papers that went to Senator Dastyari's office—have never been resolved. That is at the heart of the weakness, the illegitimacy, of the leadership of the Labor Party.

But Senator Dastyari is just symptomatic of a wider New South Wales Labor disease. Senator Dastyari chose the Leader of the Opposition to be the leader of the Labor Party, and so the Leader of the Opposition owes Senator Dastyari in just the same way as Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi chose Kristina Keneally to be the Premier of New South Wales. She was their hand-picked choice, and she's now the hand-picked choice of the Leader of the Opposition in Bennelong.

We can't allow New South Wales disease to come to Canberra from the Labor Party in the state parliament of New South Wales. We don't need to import to Canberra that New South Wales Labor Party disease that Kristina Keneally represents—the train of events that led to her being the Premier, with Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi choosing her to do that, and now being the hand-picked candidate for Bennelong. Until the Leader of the Opposition is prepared to act against Senator Dastyari he has no credibility, because if he won't stand up to Senator Dastyari how do we know that he'll stand up for Australia's best interests when he's put under pressure if he ever becomes the Prime Minister of Australia?