Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

or O'SULLIVAN (—) (): It must be broadcast day in the Senate today because what we've seen here is a demonstration of the stunts and gimmicks that the Greens bring into this place. This amendment is the most ridiculous amendment to a reference to establish an inquiry into a very serious issue that's occurred in my home state of Western Australia. I'm very proud to join my fellow Western Australian Liberal senators in calling for this reference, for this inquiry, because it's absolutely critical. I would invite others—I see Senator Payman here, a good colleague from Western Australia—to join in on this because this is an outrageous breach of privacy that we've seen here, and it is unconscionable that it has occurred.

The staged protests that occurred at the personal home of Woodside Energy CEO Ms Meg O'Neill and her family is absolutely disgraceful. It needs to be called out without any qualification. Unfortunately, not supporting this reference means there is a qualification that's occurring here. We can't see this happen. This should be a unanimous decision here today. It's a very, very simple inquiry. Senator Watt said there are other avenues that should be looked at that the coalition could use. Frankly, it is the role of the Senate to look into these issues, and we should be able to hold an inquiry into the matters that surround this breach of privacy and that caused fear in the home of a private citizen in Western Australia.

It is absolutely disgusting that protesters would turn up to a private residence—with the knowledge of an ABC camera crew. It's just absolutely unconscionable. The public broadcaster's record is strong when it comes to activist journalists, and this is just another example of it. It is, and they need to be called out for it. As Senator Cash was saying in her contribution, for the ABC to appear on the driveway alongside radical climate activists is no coincidence. As Senator Cash was saying, when you get a tip-off—it was Four Corners; they were obviously there for a special investigation, running some sort of story—if you're getting an address in the suburbs, where there are households, you would know that this quite possibly could be a private residence. Anyone of any conscience—the producer of the show, the camera crew, the reporter, the journalists, whoever was involved—would know. It wasn't 1 St Georges Terrace. This was out in the suburbs, clearly a private residence. It is unbelievable.

I will defend the right of people to be able to protest and protest peacefully, but we're seeing, more and more across this country, a rise of property destruction, vandalism and trespassing. This is not protesting. This is breaking the law. For the ABC to go along with this—frankly, they're culpable. They're just as much a part of it, and they need to be called out for it.

All major oil and gas companies are subject to regular protests. We get that. We understand that there are people who don't like the work that they do. Frankly, if it wasn't for fossil fuels, we wouldn't have alleviated poverty across the world like we have over the last century, but there's no acknowledgement of that from the Left. Protests occur, and there's no acknowledgement of that; there's just this utopian world that they want to live in. Look, we're going to differ in that regard. But this is unacceptable. When we're worried about climate activists throwing paint on buildings—it's an absolute farce, and it's unacceptable. These activist stunts are unacceptable, and they should be punished.

For the ABC Four Corners camera crew to rock up alongside this is simply unacceptable and is an extreme overreach. There are some serious questions that need to be asked, and a Senate inquiry is an appropriate place for those questions to be put to the ABC. This is the public broadcaster. They have a responsibility. They've been provided funding by the Australian taxpayer to do their job, and Australian taxpayers deserve for questions to be answered.

The ABC's initial statement said:

The ABC team remained on public land observing what was happening and getting some vision, as journalists do.

We already know that this is untrue. We already know that this is untrue because we've seen the photo of this crew on the driveway of a private residence. This is unbelievable. They may say, 'Oh, it was on the kerbside; it was on council land.' We've all got driveways or entrances to the buildings that we live in. If someone arrives, whether it happens to be on the council verge or whether it's inside the property line of your residence, citizens know—any reasonable person will know—