Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Southerners, indeed, yes. But they were not locals. They were on the local polling booths. LNP polling booths were being manned by volunteers, local volunteers, from Townsville. But who was manning the Labor Party booths and, I might say, then Senator Lazarus's booth? It was the CFMEU, the CPSU and, in Lazarus's case, the MUA. They were all there. They were all being paid. They were not there as volunteers, like the LNP supporters. They were all there supporting the Labor Party, with campaign slogans that said 'Put the LNP last'—not 'Put One Nation last', put the anti-immigration parties last, put other parties, even Palmer's party, last, but 'Put the LNP last'.

I really look forward to any Labor Party person with any semblance of standing in that organisation coming in here and assuring me that not only the Labor Party will not be preferencing One Nation before the LNP but the unions will not be preferencing One Nation before the LNP. If the Labor Party want to preference One Nation, that is fine. I do not care. There is nothing wrong with One Nation, if the Labor Party want to preference them. It is about the dishonesty of the Labor Party saying, 'We are putting One Nation last because we do not like them,' and getting up in the chamber here and hurling some abusive, unparliamentary comments at Senator Hanson and her colleagues—unnecessary, but that is what the Labor Party do—and saying they are totally opposed to One Nation, but, come the Queensland election, I will bet you any money you like that the unions who support and run the campaign for the Labor Party will have signs saying, 'Put the LNP last,' which means, by implication, that the Labor Party will be preferencing One Nation before the LNP. If I am wrong, I would love someone of standing in the Labor Party in Queensland to come in and tell me I am wrong—that not only will they be putting One Nation last but the unions will be as well.

As I say, I have nothing against One Nation in particular. They are not the best political party. The best one, of course, is the LNP in Queensland. There is no doubt about that. But I just cannot control my mirth at the hypocrisy of the Labor Party. In spite of all their abuse of One Nation—inappropriate abuse, more often than not—you will find that, at the Queensland state election, the Labor Party in Queensland will be preferencing One Nation over the LNP. One might ask, 'What about their honesty, what about their commitments, what about their integrity?' Well, we will see at that time.

I have diverted slightly from the subject before the chamber, but I return to that report and I ask why it is that the Labor Party and the Greens think it is okay to ban donations from foreign sources to the Labor Party and the Liberal Party but not to the conservation groups, GetUp! and the unions, who are the main funders and supporters of both the Greens and the Australian Labor Party in any election.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.