CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (10:54): It has been my absolute honour to come to this place and fight for my electorate. I believe that's what I've been sent here to do by the people of Groom. I come here, and I fight on policy.

There are things that I believe in and policies that I believe are the correct solutions for the problems that Australia is facing right now, and I fight as hard as I can on that. I've taken the view sometimes—maybe the member for Solomon will appreciate this—of a flanker. Sometimes you push for the letter of the law as far as you can, and you fight as hard as you can, but you walk off the field at the end of the day, you shake hands, and you acknowledge that the other side is fighting on policy too.

They're trying to get the best outcomes, and fighting on policy for the betterment of the Australian people is the process that parliament has enjoyed for some time. I say this because I want to reflect some comments from my community on recent events, particularly the statements by Ms Hanson and the One Nation party, regarding two people in this place. They are statements that I think are beneath the dignity of a senator.

Firstly, I speak to the accusations of Mr Hastie being a 'traitor'. I think this is one of the most grossly inaccurate and unfair assessments of a person in this place that has been made. You can disagree very strongly with Mr Hastie's position on any number of issues, but to suggest that a man who is willing to put on the uniform and to walk into battle—to walk into a war that was delivering terrible consequences for those who went and fought in it.

To accuse him of being a traitor in the way that they did and then to pretend that they didn't when they were called out is absolutely appalling. I acknowledge the member for New England for having the decency to apologise for this, and it stands in stark contrast to the behaviour of Ms Hanson. I think it brings her character into question.

I would argue the comments about the Prime Minister's mother are just as egregious. This is something that shows this isn't judgement, this isn't a one-off and this isn't a slip of the tongue that she's made. Her character is being revealed very clearly to the Australian people.

This is someone who is indecent. This is someone who is not fighting on policy and is willing to take the lowest shot she possibly can by making comments about someone's dead mother and whether or not they deserved council housing. I think that's an absolute disgrace.

I wrote to the Prime Minister this morning expressing my views on that, and I think Australians should know that that's not how we deal. I come here, and I fight on policy with those opposite. Then we discuss afterwards, and, hopefully, we come to a better place.

We do that. We put ourselves on the line and we express our views so that we can make Australia a better place, and, through that policy fight, hopefully resolve the issues that Australians are really facing.