David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the learned senator. The Australian government is going to stand beside each elector in each council and  provide for a plebiscite so the people of those shires will have a say, notwithstanding that the one-house parliament in Queensland has made it illegal to conduct a vote. All I hear from the other side is silence. This is an outrageous attack upon democracy and they know it. They have said and done nothing. Their party is complicit in an attack on democracy at a local government level. These are volunteers who are being chopped off at the knees by the Labor Party.