Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I should, and I apologise, Mr Deputy President. Through you, I advise the whole opposition that I understand and sympathise with them. They do not have the hordes of departmental officials and advisers that they used to have to give them all the answers and they are really struggling at the moment. If it was too hard to even read the Hansard from yesterday, why did they not read the press? I know that the opposition got this story up, but what does it say? The last paragraph of the article in the Advertiser from this morning says:

Industry Minister Kim Carr did not deny the long-serving Victorian Labor leader would be given the plum role …

It was clear in Hansard that Minister Carr did not mislead the parliament. The press knew it because they were not so lazy. They were not so incompetent. They actually read the Hansard.

You have to do better than that. I will not be too hasty to make judgement because I know you were arrogant and out of touch when you were in government. You have not yet worked out why you are over on that side of the chamber, and you are going to try a few things on, but you want to get a bit of integrity; you want to get a bit of honesty; and if you are going to ask questions and attack ministers, you want to get your facts right. You want to have a case, instead of running around mouthing off and making yourselves look completely ridiculous.