George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The Liberal Party, the coalition, the government, are disappointed by the course that Senator Bernardi has taken this morning. We believe that he has done the wrong thing, because only seven months ago Senator Bernardi was elected by the people of South Australia to serve in the Senate as a Liberal Senator. There are a variety of views in the Liberal Party, as there are a variety of views in the Labor Party. But, only seven months ago, Senator Bernardi was happy to stand before the people of South Australia and to say that he sought their endorsement to serve for a six-year term as a Liberal senator.

Now, Senator Bernardi has been a participant in debates in the Liberal Party, as have I, and, in the seven months since the federal election, nothing has changed. There is no policy for which the Liberal Party and the government stand today which is not the same as the platform on which Senator Bernardi sought election by the people of South Australia only seven months ago. In view of that, we find it perplexing that, when there is no difference between the policy and platform on which he sought re-election, and the policy and platform of the government today, he would feel the need to take this course. There was no need for him to take this course, because as former Prime Minister Mr Howard famously said, the Liberal Party is 'a broad church'. It can accommodate people like Senator Bernardi and it can accommodate people of more moderate views than Senator Bernardi, and it is genius. The reason why it has been the government of Australia for longer than any other political party is that people within the Liberal Party have understood that. Senator Bernardi, a former state president and a former federal vice-president, should understand it as well.

We in the government will deal with Senator Bernardi as we deal with all members of the crossbench—in a professionally courteous and respectful way. We will treat him as a colleague, and for many members of the government he will continue to be a personal friend. But we do not condone what he has done. Might I say, that if one seeks to restore confidence in the political class, it is a poor way to begin by breaking the promise one makes to one's electors to serve for the political party on whose platform and on whose ticket one stood. What Senator Bernardi has done today is not a conservative thing to do, because breaking faith with the electorate, breaking faith with the people who voted for you, breaking faith with the people who have supported you through thick and thin for years and indeed decades is not a conservative thing to do. Nevertheless, as I said, we will continue to treat Senator Bernardi courteously and professionally as a colleague.

There is one respect in which, of course, Senator Bernardi stands in a different position from the other members of the Senate crossbench. Unlike the other members of the Senate crossbench, Senator Bernardi was elected to support the policies of this government and, whether within the Liberal Party or now as a member of the crossbench, what we will be seeking of Senator Bernardi is to do no more than to support the policies and measures on which he stood when he sought re-election by the people of South Australia in July of last year.

Senator Wong predictably seeks to make political points; she is entitled to do that. I am not going to engage in a slanging match with Senator Wong, other than to remind her that it is not unknown on either side of politics for people to become unhappy and unsettled in the political party in which they were elected to represent and to leave. We saw that in the parliament before last with Mr Peter Slipper in the other place. We saw it in this Senate some 20 years ago in the case of former Senator Mal Colston; but, unlike the Labor Party on the occasion of the Mal Colston defection, we will not be abusing Senator Bernardi. We will not be engaged—