STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr ROB MITCHELL (McEwen) (13:47): I told the chamber last year about my concerns about the behaviour of the Plymouth Brethren Church at last year's election. They were bused into our towns of Gisborne and Wandong for prepoll, harassing voters who came to exercise their democratic right to vote, which they chose not to exercise themselves. They were bullying people.

In fact, we had young girls in tears because of what was happening. We still don't know what the Liberal Party promised these people to turn up to the booths and behave like that. It's been remarkable to watch the Liberal Party defend their weird mates to the bitter end.

Last month, after a parliamentary committee questioned a representative of the Brethren, the opposition put out a joint release—seven of them—condemning the proceedings. You can't find seven of them over there to agree on anything at any given time these days. But the questions have got to be: What are you so scared of over there?

Are you worried that the Brethren will admit to what the opposition agreed to? Are you worried that the Brethren will quietly stop funding you and go and join your mates over at One Nation? Is it the fear that that busload of people is not going to be there?

The question we face now is: will we get more of the same at the Victorian state election in the seats of Yan Yean and Macedon? The same characters who bused in the Brethren and the Neo-Nazis are the same people running the Liberals' campaign in both of those seats. The real question has got to be: What price did they pay to try and subvert democracy, and how do we stop it?