Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

My apologies. Madam Acting Deputy President, I say through you that members of the Australian Labor Party today failed themselves, and did so in such an open manner, in failing to support the amendment to broaden the time frame of this investigation. There was not one challenge to one word within the motion, just a challenge to the time frame to allow this examination, if it were to proceed, to include the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party. If you came in behind it, different people had different motivations in this exercise. Palmer's was clear. Mr Palmer has not even endeavoured to disguise his interest in this inquiry, because it can be found in section 1, subsections (c) and (d), which talk about the approval processes for resource applications in the state of Queensland—given that the matter is under the Queensland government. There is a reason for this. He has failed to achieve what he wants in the manner that he tried—and it is well recorded in Queensland. He has failed through all levels of courts in Queensland. He has failed through his public attempts to embarrass the Queensland government. So he has to resort to an attempt to take control of this Senate.

We in Queensland are tired of Palmersauruses and Palmer resorts and Palmer nickel factories and Palmer airlines. And I was going to see that there was no way in the world that we were going to have a Palmer Senate, which is what colleagues were endeavouring to support here with this motion this afternoon.

But what is it that would attract the Labor Party to support the Palmer party? It certainly was not that. The clue is found in the section of the motion that talks about the reporting date being 'on or before 31 March 2015'. Well, that date is well known in my home state. It is well known to the opposition. It is well known to the tiny little Labor Party that languishes in the corner of the legislative assembly in Queensland. And what they have in common is: they want to disturb the current government in their efforts to lift their political fortunes in my state. This was a method to allow them to travel around the state, at enormous cost to the Commonwealth—probably in excess of $1 million, when one looks at the logistics of this particular motion—and bring in every fool, every deadbeat, every burnt-out trade union member, every disgruntled public servant, and give them the absolute privilege of this place to say whatever they liked about the Queensland government, about the Premier and about the LNP government.

And yet, up until that point today, not one word had ever come out of the Labor opposition here challenging the integrity of the Queensland government—not one. Not once have they called for an inquiry into the corruption of the Queensland government. This was just a fortuitous Palmer bus that was coming past, with a couple of big running rails; it slowed down as it got up beside Senator Wong and others, and they all climbed on board. Well, I can tell you that it ran out of fuel here this afternoon at about 5.15, or whatever time it was. It ran out of fuel. It was an embarrassing stop. And I think that we need to pay heightened attention to these manoeuvres, to see that the integrity of this place is preserved. (Time expired)