House debates Questions without Notice
Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:59 pm
My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. I refer to the failure of the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction to put the public interest ahead of his own interest, his failure to declare his interests in Jam Land to his department, his failure to declare his interests to this House and his admission that he was representing his own private interests. Will the Prime Minister now do what he should have done weeks ago and sack this minister?
Scott Morrison Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
3:00 pm
That would have to be the lamest build-up I've seen to that type of a question in this place. Not only is every assertion that he's just put to this place totally and absolutely false, but the Liberal Party and the National Party will not be lectured by someone who used to work in the New South Wales branch of the Labor Party. He had a desk in the office in the Sussex Street headquarters of a party that stinks of corruption, where they get money in plastic bags and count it out on the table. He is a member of the branch of the New South Wales Labor Party, where his colleague in the other place thinks the only thing—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Scott Morrison Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
Oh, you don't want me to talk about this. You don't want this on the table.
Tony Smith Speaker
The Prime Minister will resume his seat.
Government members interjecting—
Members on my right! The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
Yes, Mr Speaker. He was state director of a party that had 10 people resign.
Tony Smith Speaker
The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. That was not a point of order; that was a statement. The Prime Minister has the call.
Scott Morrison Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
With the number of Labor Party members from the New South Wales division who used to serve in Senator Keneally's former government that are in jail, you could establish a branch of the Labor Party at the Silverwater prison. And the member for Watson would know all about it, because one of those people who went to prison was Eddie Obeid, the ski lodge patron that the member for Watson used to visit when he bends the knees come winter. I will not cop lectures on integrity from the New South Wales Labor Party. That mob stinks with corruption, as we see every single day in the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which has your state secretary right under its gaze.
Honourable members interjecting—
Tony Smith Speaker
Members on both sides! Someone's about to get ejected. Is the Leader of the Opposition seeking to table a document?
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
No, I'm not, Mr Speaker. I move that such—
Tony Smith Speaker
No, the Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The call alternates, and I'll come back to him after the next question.