Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) | Hansard source

The Prime Minister refused to play Labor's word games. The Prime Minister has made it very clear that he has full confidence in the member for Chisholm—as did the majority of voters in the seat of Chisholm, which is, of course, what this is all about. The Labor Party thinks this is somehow a backdoor way to turn back the verdict of the Australian people at the last election. That is what this is all about.

The core accusation that Labor levelled at Ms Liu was being a member of an organisation, or a number of organisations, that the Labor candidate was a member of too. Do you think that the Labor Party would be asking these questions if the Labor candidate had prevailed at the last election? Of course not. This is a transparent, politically opportunist attack. The implication of what Labor is suggesting—everybody knows what the imputation is that you're trying to get up without actually saying so. That is why I say you are guilty of a disgraceful exercise in dog whistling; you know precisely what you're doing. There are many on the Labor side that are embarrassed by the judgements that the leadership of the Labor Party has made in relation to this.