DOCUMENTS

Senator McKENZIE (Victoria—Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) (11:07): I move: That the Senate take note of the explanation. This attendance by the minister is to a notice of motion which the Senate supported that the Prime Minister's representative provide the Australian Senate with the correspondence, messages and records of conversations that the Prime Minister had as the local MP for Grayndler around and with the Marrickville Golf Club, the Leichhardt Women's Community Health Centre and the St Vincent de Paul Society in his electorate.

These three organisations got 10½ million bucks out of this grant program, and the Senate would like to know—not Senator Mckenzie; the Senate would like to know—what conversations the Prime Minister had as the local MP with these organisations and how that information got fed into the decision-making of the government. He could have actually said, 'I met with the Marrickville Golf Club a few times actually'—Prime Minister, you're an absolute local down there; they've given you an honorary membership that you forgot about!—and stated when, where and how he had these conversations and how these three proponents for this grants program got their names on the list, on the golden ticket, on the spreadsheet that only had red on it, showing only Labor seats—88 per cent of this program went to Labor seats.

Instead of telling the Australian Senate that he'd had some meetings, told these local groups what he wanted and fed that into Catherine King's process—that it was all above board and followed the rules—he sent the Senate a letter basically saying, 'The Prime Minister was not the decision-maker for the grants reference.' Well, of course they're not. There has been a lot of talk about why I'm pursuing this.

Do you know why? Because I'm the shadow minister for Catherine King. It is my job in this place to do that.

And we are doing that with a Senate inquiry going forward. But it's not just the Australian Senate that has serious questions to ask of the Prime Minister about the Marrickville Golf Club, which he completely forgot that he walks Toto on of a morning and which stocks Albo Pale Ale in the bar. This is not an entity unknown to the Prime Minister, but he's obfuscating: 'Oh, I've never been there.

I can't give the Senate details of when I met with them about their project that I gave them six million bucks for in the election.' He's chosen to hide. Then you've got the bovver boys of the Labor Party, including Senator Watt—and now, I'm sure, Senator Ayres will follow—who come in and do what they do: rough-arm, belittle and denigrate. Oh, sorry—Senator Sheldon, another bovver boy of the union movement.

The three bruisers enter the Australian Senate and run amok. You know that they got it wrong when they couldn't leave it to Senator McAllister to handle this debate. Senator McKENZIE: I withdraw.

Part of being a democrat and believing in democracy is actually upholding the institutions which underpin it, and sometimes that is tough to do. It is a lived practice. My concern with the Labor Party's approach, whether it be Minister McBain, whether it be Minister Catherine King or whether it be the Prime Minister himself, is the inability to uphold their own ministerial code of conduct.

I'll read directly from it. The Prime Minister signed the front of this document. It says: … we will act in a manner that is consistent with the highest ethical standards … I expect my Ministers to demonstrate that they are complying with these high standards … Well, when you're not complying with the high standards of the Prime Minister's code of conduct, which goes directly, in part 3, to perceived conflicts of interest, then you have a response to that.

Your response is to apologise, to make amends and, in certain cases, to resign your commission. But instead the union thuggery approach is to come out swinging, belittle your opponent, bury them and hope the issue goes away. Well, the Australian people are absolutely onto you, Labor.

They are absolutely onto a prime minister who, from what he untruthfully told the Australian public, you'd think had never heard of the Marrickville Golf Club. Instead he finds, 'Oh, I actually was an honorary member for years.' It's time— (Time expired)