Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Hansard source

The proposition that we hear from the government is that there are major issues confronting this country. I have to agree with that. But what is the government’s response? We see that within their own operations their preoccupation is the question of personal advancement. It really is all about who is going to be the next leader of the government. The unedifying spectacle yesterday was a dispute that arose as a result of the Costello forces in Victoria. We have a senator here who used to represent the seat of Ballarat clearly heavily involved in the poaching of Senator McGauran from the National Party to the Liberal Party. What reason was there? There has been none stated publicly, other than an attempt to shore up the Costello numbers within the Liberal Party itself.

Senator Nash responded by saying that never again would she put the interests of the government ahead of her party when voting in the Senate after the Liberal Party deliberately went out and purchased a vote within the Liberal Party room itself. We have a senator who was described by the former Premier of Victoria as the most useless senator for the state of Victoria. This is the man that they have purchased as a result of the intervention of the Costello forces within the Liberal Party to buy a vote. It boils down to a question of numbers. It is not a matter of deep principle.

Senator Heffernan, the Prime Minister’s attack dog, is let off the leash yet again and goes to the airport here in Canberra yesterday and tells Senator Nash that she may ‘blow it out her backside’—I use that word in deference to the ruling of the Deputy President on this matter. In this place today, we have seen Senator Minchin try to tell us there was nothing in it; it was only a question of the ABC blowing it up. What we have here is the coalition being blown up as a deliberate attempt has been made by one section of the Liberal Party to secure additional numbers in a forthcoming ballot for the leadership of the government. That is the fundamental question here—not the big issues facing this society but who is going to become the Prime Minister as a result of a forthcoming leadership ballot within the Liberal Party.

We have a senator who clearly is more interested in getting his tango lessons on the 21st floor in Collins Street than he is in representing the people of Victoria. We have got a senator here who has shown by his own personal demeanour and behaviour that he is not fit for service in this chamber. We have a senator here who should have resigned instead of taking the 30 pieces of silver from the Liberal Party for his transfer. What we have is new cannon fodder being provided by the Costello forces in this forthcoming battle. We have got the cannon fodder as we see that the National Party’s traditional role as the doormats to the Liberal Party is being fulfilled in its ultimate function.

We have Senator McGauran who says that the real truth of the matter is that the future is with the Liberal Party itself. Very rarely do I agree with Senator McGauran. I suppose you could say that a stopped clock is at least right twice a day. We have a circumstance here where Senator McGauran might have something; there might be something in it. The fact is the National Party is going from oblivion to oblivion as a result of the failure of its policy positions over many years. We have a situation where Senator Heffernan has been let loose to try to act as the attack dog for the Prime Minister to try to ensure the National Party fulfils its function as the doormats in this chamber.

We have seen in recent times that the National Party has failed to fulfil its obligations to its constituencies. As a consequence, it has lost seat after seat after seat in this parliament. Hume, gone! New England, gone! Farrer, gone! Kennedy, gone! Richmond, gone! Now a Victorian Senate spot, gone! The first seats were won in this place by the National Party in Tasmania. They have not had representation much ever since. We have seen that the National Party used to hold seats from the Gulf of Carpentaria right down to Bass Strait. Now look at the electoral map of this country. Because of the doormat policies of the National Party, Senator McGauran has led the way. He has shown what it really is to be in the Country Party, to always put pragmatism ahead of principle. He has been bought so incredibly cheaply. What has he got as a result of that? Disgrace for himself.