Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Is it not uncommon for people, when they get dissociated from the rest of the community—when they become isolated—to get paranoid and dominated by conspiracy theories. I think Senator Abetz and the opposition reflect that process. They see conspiracy theories in the Greens all the time. Now, apparently, Senator Conroy being paired while attending to cabinet duties is somehow a conspiracy. Senator Conroy was paired for the debate and has been an active participant in the parliament this week, as always. But, like many members of parliament, he occasionally is paired. He was paired with a Liberal senator. I do not know whether that is a conspiracy! Was a Liberal senator part of the conspiracy? It really is an indictment of the Liberal Party. They are so irrelevant, so paranoid and so consumed by conspiracy theories that they have nothing to offer to public policy or the parliament.