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

I don't want to talk so much about the substance of the motion, although I can't understand why anyone would oppose a motion that calls upon the Islamic community in Australia to continue—continue—to condemn radical Islam in speech and deed and reaffirm its commitment to working alongside Australian security agencies to address radicalisation in all its forms. In spite of what Senator Collins just said, I can't understand why anyone in this chamber would not want to support at least that aspect of the motion. I also note in passing that it calls upon Sheikh Omran to publicly retract his criticism of police and intelligence services and to denounce all radical Islamic speech and jihadism. Again, whilst that may cause some concern to some, I would think that most couldn't really object to that call to action in this motion.

But why I speak in support of the motion of my colleague Senator O'Sullivan, also supporting the words of Senator Bernardi, is that this again demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Greens political party. It's interesting to note that the Labor Party denied that they were the ones who denied formality.