Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Payne. Yesterday in question time the minister refused to assure the Senate that the member for Chisholm is a fit and proper person to be a member of the Australian parliament. Why?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

That's absolutely a misrepresentation of my position. The suggestion that the member for Chisholm is not a fit and proper person is insulting. It is the case that she's an active member of her local community, and that she works closely with many groups, including from across the Chinese-Australian community. In her statement yesterday, which is on the public record—and I did read part of it to the Senate yesterday—she was clear and open about her previous associations that have been the subject of media inquiries, associations that she no longer holds. She has proactively disassociated herself from various groups that have appointed her to honorary roles without her knowledge or consent, as is often the practice with Chinese associations. The member for Chisholm is a proud Australian. She's passionately committed to serving the people of Chisholm, and any suggestion to the contrary is deeply offensive.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Kitching, a supplementary question?

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) | Link to this | Hansard source

Has the minister sought information from relevant agencies or from other ministers or their offices to assure herself of Ms Liu's fitness to be a member of the Australian parliament?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not going to comment on my engagement on intelligence matters and I'm not going to comment on my private conversations with colleagues.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Kitching, a final supplementary question?

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) | Link to this | Hansard source

Will the minister now unequivocally assure the Senate that the member for Chisholm is a fit and proper person to be a member of the Australian parliament?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

I have said that twice now. I am not sure quite what it is that Senator Kitching seeks to imply. If Senator Kitching and those opposite are intending to advance an alternative proposition, then they should actually say it; if they are not, then they should stop endeavouring to smear a member of the House of Representatives. If they are uncomfortable about their own associations, historically, with similar organisations, or if they are uncomfortable about evidence that comes up in the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales, which I have seen week in and week out as a New South Wales senator, that is not my problem.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Payne! Senator Kitching, on a point of order?

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) | Link to this | Hansard source

Mine is on relevance but also on misleading the chamber. I'm not sure that Senator Payne actually has said that Ms Liu, the member for Chisholm, is a fit and proper person, yet Senator Payne at the beginning of her answer to the second supplementary—

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll ask you to come to your point on relevance. Claims like the one you're making now are debating points that aren't appropriate for points of order. You were going to make a point about direct relevance.

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance: I have asked if she is a fit and proper person and if the minister is able to give that assurance.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

I will make a couple of observations at this point. We do need to be careful about asking ministers when it is not directly their portfolio responsibility or agency responsibility, nor is it necessarily in the authority of the minister to determine someone's eligibility or their fit-and-proper status, other than in a vernacular sense, to sit in the parliament. I'll allow the minister to continue to answer the question, draw her to the question and remind people of my previous ruling about commenting on other people.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

I have completed my answer.