Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) | Hansard source

Well, I can't speak for the wisdom on these sorts of matters of House of Representatives members, Senator Shoebridge, but those House of Representatives members from the coalition who endorsed that report got it wrong.

But the history of this issue is quite revealing. It's worth reminding ourselves that the Whitlam government tried to introduce the Human Rights Bill 1973, a bill that was happily discarded following the double dissolution election of 1974. In 1944, a referendum was held in this country. It was called the postwar reconstruction and democratic rights referendum. It contained 14 questions. It was a Curtin government initiative, and it was resoundingly defeated by Australians at the referendum, with no less than a 54 per cent vote against it. If that wasn't strong enough, in 1988—