Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Fair Competition) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, my apologies. Quite correct: I will address my remarks through the chair. But I have to disagree with the comments of my leader on this when he described the fleas that are on the Labor dog right across the country, because I think it is more like a tick. A tick is a true parasite. It sinks its teeth into something and then tries to suck it dry. What we have with the alliance we are seeing opposite, which prevents issues like this being discussed, is an alliance where not only is the tail wagging the dog but the tick is sucking the life out of a once-great party—and they have to stand here and defend them. They have to stand here and not subject the people to the same standards that they wish to subject the other side of this chamber to.

When we had heads of state in this parliament, the leaders of our closest allies, we saw a student-like protest in the House of Representatives chamber. Are you proud—