Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I want to speak on this topic, but first I want to say that I was recently with a group of people in the community of Moulamein—in fact it was a town meeting—and I was almost brought to tears and I felt angry and ashamed to be a member of federal parliament, because I could see the damage that the people working in this building are causing to people right around the country. Moulamein is a small town in southern New South Wales. I was disgusted and, as I said, almost brought to tears. I'd just come from a meeting with farmers from the southern Murray-Darling Basin, a meeting that my office organised for them with the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Murray River operator—the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is a mess, as well.

I'll come back to these things, because what we want to discuss today is the sports rorts affair. I am a member of the Finance and Public Administration Committee and I was involved in the hearing into the taking of jobs by former ministers Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop. Before they'd even left parliament they had their jobs lined up for when they left parliament. To most people, that seemed like a breach of the ministerial code of conduct. We were inquiring about Martin Parkinson, who had been given the role of investigating the appointments of these two ministers to see whether or not they complied with the ministerial code of conduct. I pursued Martin Parkinson, the former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet—it was on his last day, as I remember, basically hours before he was due to retire—with simple, fundamental questions about the investigation he had conducted, which, of course, exonerated both former ministers. But only after some time, when he was trapped, did it emerge that he had no investigatory powers. So, the Prime Minister had invested in someone to do an investigation, someone who didn't have any investigatory powers. And the same thing happened here. This is not just a cover-up of sports rorts; this is a cover-up of the lack of an investigation. This is getting deeper and deeper and worse and worse for the government. And why are they doing it again? Because they got away with it. This is one of the hallmarks of corruption. But what can we expect when we have a marketer as a Prime Minister, someone who can use a glib slogan and get out of the problem—someone who can build a facade and then sell it? This is empty of substance, but there is plenty to hide.

Corruption itself is harmful but, worse, it kills democracy. Integrity is the hallmark of democracy, and true democracy is the prerequisite for integrity. Integrity is more than just about corruption; it is about truth and facts. That should start in this parliament. This is certainly about the Prime Minister. It is about the government. Above all, it is about our parliament, because it is letting the people down. It is about every senator and every member of parliament in the lower house. Federal parliament has forgotten about integrity and forgotten about the people that we are here to serve.

The sports rorts issue is simply a symptom of the bigger issue. Let me give you some examples that point to the bigger issue. Let's look at water. Which party has neglected water infrastructure? The Labor Party and the Liberal Party, with the Nationals meekly tagging along behind. The Greens have driven that agenda, and the Liberals and Labor have allowed them to do so. The Bradfield catchment right now in North Queensland is undergoing flooding, and the water is flowing out to sea and, according to the Greens, harming the reef. Who is allowing this waste? The Labor Party and the Liberal Party, with the Nationals tagging along behind, meekly, and the Greens driving the bus.

What about the Murray-Darling Basin? Which party's policies destroyed the Murray-Darling Basin and family farms and are hurting the environment? The Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nationals tagging along meekly behind and the Greens driving the bus. Electricity—Australia has gone from the lowest-cost producer of electricity to amongst the highest. Which party has passed legislation pushing for subsidies for expensive wind and solar power, which has raised power prices astronomically and made it unreliable and insecure? The Labor Party and the Liberal Party, with the Nationals meekly tagging along behind and the Greens driving the bus.

What about the Renewable Energy Target? Which party supports a Renewable Energy Target? Let's have a look. The Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party—and the Greens want an absurd, completely renewables target. Yet an unjustified Renewable Energy Target with high subsidies is raising the power prices. As I just said, it's the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nats tagging along and the Greens driving the bus.

What about coal? Coal has saved whales, coal has saved the forests and coal has liberated humans out of poverty, along with oil and gas. Hydrocarbon has revolutionised life and civilisation. Yet which party's policies are anti-coal—anti cheap, reliable, secure, base-load power? The Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Greens party and the Nationals tagging along.

Then, on climate, which party believes, without providing specific empirical evidence, that our use of hydrocarbon fuels causes climate variability? The Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nationals tagging along and the Greens driving the bus. And what about the climate policies? Which party wants climate action? The Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nats are tagging along and the Greens are driving the bus.