STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr LAXALE (Bennelong) (13:56): As the member for Bennelong, I listen when my predecessors speak. John Alexander told us how to fund high-speed rail. Maxine McKew was part of the education revolution, modernising school halls across the country.

John Cramer was a quintessential local politician. And then there's John Howard. I have a lot of respect for Mr Howard, even if I disagree with him on many issues.

But today, John Howard and I are on a unity ticket. It has taken John Howard to intervene in that rabble over there, by calling on the Liberals to cut their ties with One Nation. So devoid of a spine are the modern Liberals that it has taken someone who has been out of politics for 19 years to show them how to find one.

Howard knew in 1996 that Pauline Hanson was bad news, and he was right. In 1998 he put One Nation last on the ballot paper, and he was right. And in 2026, John Howard knows that the Liberals should have nothing to do with One Nation, and he is right.

Despite his wise counsel, all bar one of them over there are happy to cosy up to that chaos, to wreck our economy, to attack migrants and to be partners in the division that One Nation brings. This is from the former member of Bennelong and the current one: stop waltzing with ruin over there, and put One Nation last.