Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sensitive issues like this deserve to be treated with respect. It's got to be considered that these matters are fraught with exceptional difficulty. Whilst I am sure Senator Polley has huge qualities as a senator and is multiskilled, I would suggest to her that it is highly inappropriate for her or, indeed, any other senator to come into this place and pretend to be so multiskilled that you can be the investigator, the prosecutor, the judge and the jury all in one matter, especially one as sensitive as this. In a former life, I defended people who were accused of heinous offences and I represented victims who were the subject of heinous offences. Indeed, one of the privileges I had before entering parliament was being a founding executive member and honorary legal adviser to a women's shelter, where issues of this nature often arose. You've got to be sensitive. You've got to treat people that come with their stories with respect. In Australia we also have, thankfully, the concept of innocent until proven guilty. You've got to treat these cases exceptionally carefully.

What I would invite all senators to do is to leave this matter to the independent body that has now been established, where the Minister for Finance is seeking to ensure that this matter is dealt with in a manner that takes it out of the political realm. Sure, some people think that you can get some tawdry political advantage by going on a personal demolition derby against the minister, but the minister herself has been consistent throughout this matter in her responses, seeking to protect the person making the allegations. That is an appropriate course of action, a proper course of action and an honourable course of action. Especially in circumstances when political opponents are seeking to apply a blowtorch to her, it might be very easy for her to say, 'Well, here it all is.' Instead, she has retained her dignity. She has retained the exact same approach that she has from day one. I think that is indicative of character, discernment and judgement. For the Labor Party to try to run this tawdry exercise against the minister on a personal basis really does, I think, the Labor Party a great disservice, and, one assumes, also the lady making the complaint a great disservice.

We are not here to determine what the facts of the circumstances of the case may be. On the face of it, I've got to say it looks pretty ugly, pretty horrific and clearly it is an exceptionally serious matter. So, should it be bounced around this chamber and in the other place, with people trying to make some political point-scoring exercise out of it? I think not. What we need is genuine sincerity, a careful treatment of this matter, to ensure that everybody's rights are protected. What is more, whilst the particular circumstances of this case are being fully investigated and determined—as to whether, for example, a prosecution should or should not take place—that should be independently considered first by the Federal Police and then the Director of Public Prosecutions. And, whilst that's occurring, let us all work together to ensure that anybody that has a complaint of this nature has a proper pathway to go forward to ensure that there is a clear mechanism. Surely that should have been part and parcel and the thrust of Senator Polley's and the Labor Party's contribution today, but sadly it was not. They were all cheap, tawdry and personal attacks against the minister. I, for one, the Prime Minister and the whole coalition look forward to seeing a pathway being developed for the protection of all the staff who work in this place.