The Federal Liberal Party-National Party Coalition formed in 1945 splits asunder in wake of the May 2025 federal election

 

At the 3 May 2025 Australian federal general election the sitting National Party MP in the Page electorate for over 11 years Kevin Hogan received 48,043 of the first preference votes and, as then Deputy Manager of Opposition Business, may have believed he remained an effective representative of his NSW Northern Rivers region electorate.

Pat Conaghan as sitting National Party MP in adjoining Cowper electorate for almost 6 years received 40,833 first preference votes and, as an Opposition 'shadow assistant minister' in two portfolios since June 2022, may also have thought he had a path back to government benches in the House of Representatives by 2028.

Now both men although re-elected to the House of Representatives, along with 7 other party members, are no longer part of the official Opposition.

They have become the very definition of a political waste of space.

Nationwide News, 20 May 2024:

A “nightmare scenario” awaits the Liberals when they rock up to the first parliamentary sitting after the bombshell Coalition split.

The Liberal Party and the Nationals are getting a D-I-V-O-R-C-E.

National Party leader David Littleproud has announced the party will dump the Coalition agreement in the wake of the disastrous election result.

He is blaming a fight over the four policy issues including the future of nuclear power and supermarket divestitures.

It is a historic move, one of the rare splits in opposition since the 1920s.

The last split was during the Joh Bjelke Petersen for Canberra push in the 1980s.

It means the Nationals will sit independently in the new Parliament, Mr Littleproud will cop a pay cut and Liberals will be reduced to just 28 seats in the 150-seat Parliament.......

“It’s with great disappointment that I announce that we’re not going to form part of that Coalition,’’ Mr Littleproud said.

The Liberal Party as it currently stands have been slashed to just 28 seats. In other words they hold one-third of the seats that the Labor Party has now claimed.

It all looked a little more respectable when the Coalition agreement was in force and the Nationals MPs were added to their tally.

The Climate Council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TUESDAY 20 MAY 2025

Climate denial nukes Coalition as Australians call for more climate action

The Nationals Party decision to keep denying climate science, and walk away from the Liberal Party, will hurt their constituents in the bush. Together they were a political drag on Australia’s clean energy momentum.

Climate Councillor and energy expert Greg Bourne said: “Australian voters have moved on, but some politicians are stuck in the mud of climate denial unable to even acknowledge the climate challenge is there, let alone come up with a credible plan to tackle it. And yet many in the farming community are in the direct firing line of climate change driven extreme weather events.

“The 2025 Federal Election result has shown us that parties without credible climate and energy policies are unelectable.”

Mr Bourne said this is part of a fundamental shift in Australian politics, with climate change now a permanent fixture of our elections.

“Australian voters gifted the Albanese Government with its biggest mandate since World War II. Now they have a historic opportunity to keep powering on with renewable energy and storage, do more to regulate polluters and set new, stronger climate targets, and at the same time give support to those most in need from the havoc wreaked by extreme weather events.

“The Albanese Government must demonstrate it is a party of climate science by setting a strong 2035 target that can guide the country on further and faster cuts to climate pollution. The policies that underpin that will need to address the ongoing expansion of coal, oil and gas that is driving harmful climate change. An early litmus test is a decision on the North West Shelf project.”

Greg Bourne said: “The Coalition went to the 2025 election without a plan to cut climate pollution, and a nuclear scheme that would result in massively more climate pollution, not less. They suffered their worst election defeat ever, and now the Coalition is split in two. Climate denial is political poison.”

ENDS

Laffing at #Führertuber Dutton......

 

 Deputy Sussan Ley & Liberal Party Leader Peter Dutton
Mark Knight

The Shot, 28 October 2024, excerpts:

34 thoughts I had while watching the Liberal Party conference

Ronnie Salt

To the ballroom of the Sydney Hyatt, (were you expecting West Wyalong?) where the Liberal Party’s 64th federal council conferencefestmeet is in full swing in June. I’m at home on a Sunday afternoon watching it back on Facebook and reading along with the comments from Brian and Raelene and Irene and Ron, who enjoys writing his comments in all capitals......

1. And we’re off. Sussan is wearing a fetching navy blazer to match all the other navy blazers at the two bridal tables on the stage full of white people. So very, very white. And navy – lots of navy.

2. Sussan says something about Peter being a leader and then does that head toss thing that reminds me of horses when their fly veil isn’t sitting on their head right.

3. No matter, Sussan has mercifully finished telling us all about Peter’s entire life story which nobody in Australia has ever heard before. Did you know he used to be in the police force? Stop it.

4. Sussan scurried back to her chair and here he comes, Peter Dutton, the Andrew Tate of Australian politics. Like Tate, hair-free and boring, he likes waggling the ToughMan persona-dildo in your face while nothing of any substance ever comes along to back it up.

5. Ron doesn’t seem to be bothered by that, GET RID OF THE GREENS!!

6. Oh, Peter is telling us that Sussan is a great friend of Women-In-The-Liberal-Party and a very good friend of something called Women-In-General. Not sure what Women-In-General he means, but it probably doesn’t include the attention-seeking missile Jacinta Price, who loves a good women’s uterus policing.

7. Immediately after Peter tells us how good Sussan and the Liberal party are for Women-In-General, he thanks the Liberal party president and the Liberal party treasurer and the Liberal party managers, who are all men called John and Charles and Andrew. Guess Sussan ain’t that great a friend of Women-In-The-Liberal-Party and Women-In-General after all.

8. He thanks yet another man, Jeremy Rockliffe, for being Tasmanian but I miss the part where he mentions the Rockliffe Government delaying charges in child sexual abuse cases that happened within the Tasmanian government, however Pete does tell us how exciting the Rockliffe Government will be for young people, and oh goodness what a clanger you dropped there Peter.....

10. Peter’s only seven minutes in and already the lady in the second row with one of those Prude & Trude black velvet hairbands (they must be compulsory) is checking her phone for emails. Have a fistful of mints Judith, cos Pete’s due to talk for 45 minutes and not even a bowl of blow is going to help you through this.

11. Apparently Australians cannot afford to buy a home, says the man who’s been in Parliament for 23 years and in government for 17. Did everyone know Peter and Mrs Peter sold one of their homes on the Gold Coast in 2022 for $6 million? Peter forgets to tell the audience this, too.

12. Yay. Here we go. Law, order and unity get their first call out and we’re only 10 minutes in. Peter has not yet referenced his nine years in the police, but there’s still time yet.

13. Peter is alarmed. There are radical Greens activists in the Teal’s midst. Why have the Teals never noticed them? Get Ron in the comments on the case. He’s seen them. Ron knows.

14. An annoying young journo is in the way of Judith the hair-band lady. She’s leaning over and giving him a good Karening.

15. Our Peter owns a little collection of Australian industries too, it seems. He’s talking about our miners, our farmers, our fishers and our foresters, but sadly no mention of our property developers, our $6 million Gold Coast apartment owners, and our billionaires who live in Singapore for tax purposes (wave to Gina everyone).

16. I’m worried about the journo. He’s a young’ish sort of fella. He’s not seasoned enough for the wrath of Judith from Double Bay. Run little journo boy, run.....

18. At 29:29 we hear, a Prime Minister cannot conduct themselves as somebody who is only there for sexual interests, and I’ve played it back and I think he might mean ‘sectional’, but ‘sexual’ is what Peter has said and I really don’t know what to say about that.

19. Peter has recently spoken to a man in the Cunter, which worries me until I replay it and realise it’s a man in the Hunter (Valley) and I’m not sure if Pete needs to see a speech therapist, or he’s just deathly tired, but this speech is getting very out there.

20. Peter thinks Anthony Albanese does not have a robust handle on nuclear. Does nuclear energy have a robust handle? And if it does, Peter sure doesn’t have one either. What in the name of stale conference room odour does it even mean? One day God herself is going to have to answer that one.

21. Nuclear! Nuclear! Nuclear for all! We will have so many jobs in the Cunter that people will be lining up to live there due to all the nuclear power stations that people want to live next to and somehow I think Peter’s telling us a bit of a fib here.

22. Peter is telling us the Liberal party will speak to Australians about nuclear power and consult with Australians about nuclear power and do costings with Australians about nuclear power and have meetings about nuclear power and lots of other sentences that include the words nuclear power, but sadly no information follows about the construction of stations for nuclear power or the timelines and money involved or where to read the full policy on nuclear power. What was that about Andrew Tate?

23. Aspiration dies where crime thrives. He looks very pleased with himself after that hilarious quip and so does the lanyard guy at the end of the bridal table who obviously wrote it cos he’s got that used-up radio ad man look about him....

25. The camera shows us the full room and they all have free Liberal Party travel mugs, so now you can recognise these people when they’re out in the wild at their lawn bowls clubs.

26. Judith is out of mints.

27. Raelene in the Facebook comments wants us to, Ask Albo what happens to all the waste of solar panels, batteries and turbines when they reach their use-by!? I assume Raelene has never seen the toxic wasteland of abandoned mines across the globe and the rising temperatures that are cooking the planet from those mine’s fossil fuel emissions, but you do you Raelene. (Narrator: it’s also clear these comments have been heavily censored, because every single comment is rejoicing in Sussan and Peter and everything Liberal. Either that or they’re handing out free nangs as well as free travel mugs.)

28. Peter is shifting to terrorism and immigration, which he says in the same sentence because that’s Peter’s safe place. But you go off king, while your ship is sinking, keep going.

29. Peter’s looking excited, which means he’s circling back to CRIME and LAW AND ORDER again. He gets a little glint in his eye when he’s talking about crime, like a penguin at feeding time.

30. Sorry, I dropped my laptop on my face because Peter’s just told me that highly credentialed politicians “like Dan Tehan” will help “restore Australia back to what it once was”, and even Judith looks like she ain’t swallowing that one, unlike the mints.

31. We’re working up for the big finish because the little journo boy and his camera are back, bravely facing danger in the untamed jungle of navy blazers and privilege and personalised travel mugs.

32. BORDERS, BORDERS, LAW AND ORDER, POWERS TO POLICE, CRIME, KNIFE SALES, GANGS, STOP AND SEARCH, INTERNET BADDIES, SOCIAL MEDIA BAD, CHILDREN COMMITTING CRIMES FOR LIKES, (unlike politicians), BAD BORDERS, SARAH HENDERSON IS IN CLASSROOMS WORKING AGAINST EXPLICIT SEXUAL THINKING (I have nothing to add there) BAD PEOPLE ARE EVERYWHERE, EVEN IN CLASSROOMS (probably get Sarah out of there then)......

Read the full article at

https://theshot.net.au/uncategorized/34-thoughts-i-had-while-watching-the-liberal-party-conference/

Did you know that the majority of residents in and around Tarong & Callide (Qld), Liddell & Mount Piper (NSW), Port Augusta (SA) and Low Yang (Vic) are supportive of having nuclear power plants built in their midst? No, neither did I.

 

In June 2024 Leader of the Opposition & Liberal MP for Dickson Peter Dutton - the politician with 30 nicknames implying he is either a fascist dictator or a root vegetable (or both) - flanked by both the Leader of the Nationals & the Morrison lookalike spokesperson on Climate Change and Energy, announced that if he won federal government in 2025 he would establish a nuclear power industry in Australia.

The initial seven nuclear power plants would be sited at retiring coal-fired power stations in:

Tarong in Queensland, north-west of Brisbane

Callide in Queensland, west of Gladstone

Liddell in NSW, in the Hunter Valley

Mount Piper in NSW, near Lithgow

Port Augusta in SA

Loy Yang in Victoria, in the Latrobe Valley (rarer than a dodo bird, SMR reactor only)

Muja in WA, near Collie (ditto another dodo).

Then, in the months that followed, when hard questions began to be repeatedly asked Dutton went quiet on the subject. Leaving most of heifer's dust shovelling to be done by fellow Queenslander, the Nationals Leader & MP for Maranoa David Littleproud.

A task he is obviously not performing well......

The Noisy Elephant

@TheNoisyTrunk

#DavidLittleproud said, on #ABC 2/09/2024 Afternoon Briefing*, these exact words:

"Well, on all seven locations, the majority of people living in these locations that we're proposing for 'nuclear' power plants to take over from transition from coal-fired power stations support this"

We have a question, @D_LittleproudMP YES, THIS IS A QUESTION TO YOU David and it WILL be followed up.

WHERE is it documented that a MAJORITY of people in the 7 locations SUPPORT "this" (The transition to nuclear power).

1/. WHO polled this

2/. WHEN was it polled

and

3/. WHERE can we view the polling methodology.

We ask because #GregJennett didn't ask, and he SHOULD have, and secondly it needs to be verified given it is such a big claim and goes against the official polls.

Please reply to this post so that all can see rather than us having to go down a more formal approach and then republish stating such.

#NuclearPower

*https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NU2422C156S00

#DavidLittleproud said, on #ABC 2/09/2024 Afternoon Briefing*, these exact words:

"Well, on all seven locations, the majority of people living in these locations that we're proposing for 'nuclear' power plants to take over from transition from coal-fired power stations support… pic.twitter.com/AFbZRAquzO

— The Noisy Elephant (@TheNoisyTrunk) September 2, 2024

Cartoons of the Week

Matt Golding

So the Coalition appears to believe that a homegrown nuclear power policy will get it over the line at the 2025 general election? Despite the fact that it will take too long reaching operational status, costs up to 85 billion to build & once all 7 reactors are up and running will need many billions of megalitres of water annually to function

 

On Wednesday, 19 June 2024 the Leader of the Coalition Opposition & Liberal MP for Dickson Peter Dutton (Qld) held a joint press conference with Leader of the National Party & MP for Maranoa David Littleproud (Qld), Liberal MP for Farrer Sussan Ley (NSW), Liberal MP for Hume Angus Taylor (NSW) and Liberal MP for Fairfax Ted O'Brien (Qld).

These representatives of their parties have sat in the Australian Parliament for approximately the last 22, 7, 22,10 and 7 years respectively.

From that Wednesday press conference an est. 10,047 word transcript was produced which alleges to outline a Coalition policy on nuclear power as part of Australia's energy mix, with 7 nuclear power plants to be constructed in the vicinities of Tarong and Callide in Queensland, Blackmans Creek and Mount Piper in NSW, Traralgon in Victoria, Collie in Western Australia and Port Augusta in South Australia.

All 7 of these projected sites according to Dutton & Co are to be compulsorily acquired from the existing owners on behalf of the Commonwealth and it is anticipated that the nuclear build will begin sometime in the next 10 years (before 2035) and the first two nuclear power plants will be complete in the next 11 to 12 years (2035-37) with the remaining five being completed by sometime in the 2040s.

When it comes to the projected cost of the build no estimation is given other than "it will be a big bill, there’s no question about that".

However the CSIRO GenCost 2023-24 report calculates a 7 large-scale power plant build as costing up to $85 billion in today's dollars, with the first nuclear power plant completed at est. cost of up to $17 billion. While a small scale SMR nuclear power plant (as yet commercially unrealised) has a tentative est. build of somewhere between $5.1 and $9.3 billion. A total cost for 7 small scale plants being between est. $ 35.7 to $65.1 billion in today's dollars.

The Australian Energy Council, peak industry body for electricity and downstream natural gas businesses operating in the competitive wholesale and retail energy markets, is not critical of CSIRO's timetables and costings.

The CSIRO GenCost 2023-24 final report also indicates an estimate of total build years to completion for 7 large-scale nuclear power plants as 40.6 years - with a most optimistic completion date in 2064-2065 if construction commenced immediately. While the report also states estimated total build years to completion for 7 small-scale nuclear power plants is 30.6 years - with a most optimistic completion date in 2054-2055 if construction commenced immediately.

In the joint press release transcript it states: "we’ve looked at water" as part of the basis of making the announcement of Coalition intentions to build those seven nuclear power plants if elected to govern in 2025.

However that brief mention did not qualify or quantify nuclear power production water needs, which according to a nuclear power-neutral Smart Water Magazine quote:

one nuclear reactor requires between 1,514L and 2,725L litres of water per MWh. It equates to billions of gallons of water per year, and all this water requires filtering somehow.

This would see Queensland & New South Wales required to each find an additional est. 27,786 megalitres of water per annum and Victoria, South Australia & West Australia each required to find an additional est. 13,893 megalitres per annum.

To put that into some perspective two nuclear power plants operating for one year in NSW would require the equivalent of 557 years of Clarence River average water discharge into the sea.

Further, in the joint press release, this quartet of Coalition politician also appear to be asserting that an Australian nuclear power industry will supply "cheaper" electricity.

The Australian Energy Council states:

Australian retail household electricity prices in the National Electricity Market (NEM) are the lowest they have been for eight years, and on an international comparison are the 10th lowest of the 38 OECD countries. The average cost per unit of electricity has fallen to 27 cents/kWh according to the most recent Australian Competition and Consumer National Electricity Market (NEM) data. When compared against other countries using a purchasing power exchange rate, Australian average prices per kilowatt-hour are equivalent to 17.6 US cents (c/kWh), well below the OECD average cost of 24.2 US c/kWh and less than many European countries.

World Nuclear Association graph, 30.04.24. Click on image to enlarge

According to the World Nuclear Association in 2024 there are nuclear power reactors operating in 32 countries plus Taiwan.

Looking at the graph of 58 countries above, 5 of the 15 countries with the highest household electricity prices were countries with nuclear power in the mix.

The Czech Republic operating 6 nuclear reactors has the second highest household electricity price, Belgium operating 5 nuclear reactors the 7th highest, Spain with 7 nuclear reactors the 10th highest, Slovenia sharing 1 nuclear reactor the 12th highest and the United Kingdom operating 9 nuclear reactors the 14th highest.

The full transcript of the 17 June 2024 joint press release can be read at:

https://www.peterdutton.com.au/leader-of-the-opposition-transcript-joint-press-conference-with-the-hon-david-littleproud-mp-the-hon-sussan-ley-mp-the-hon-angus-taylor-mp-and-mr-ted-obrien-mp-sydney/

Opposition Leader & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter 'The Dickson Spuddler' Dutton - less a slow strip tease of election campaign policies more a full frontal flash

 

Google News, snapshot 09.06.24

ABC News, 8 June 2024:

The federal Coalition has confirmed it will dump Australia's commitment to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, arguing it is unachievable.

Australia has committed under the Paris Agreement to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

Abandoning the target would also mean withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 2024:

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has signalled he will scrap the nation’s legally binding 2030 climate target and risk Australia’s membership of the Paris Agreement on climate change, following his vow to deploy nuclear energy to reach net zero by 2050.

Dutton declared on Saturday that a Coalition government would not pursue Australia’s legally binding climate target to cut emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 – a significant escalation of Australia’s long-running climate policy war ahead of the next federal election due by May next year.

Dutton told The Australian on Saturday that the government’s renewable goal was unattainable and “there’s no sense in signing up to targets you don’t have any prospect of achieving”.

The opposition has said if it forms government it would build up to seven emissions-free nuclear power plants to replace the energy supply from Australia’s dirty coal plants, which have begun to shut down across the country. He would also pause the rollout of wind and solar farms.

The CSIRO found Australia could not build a nuclear plant until 2040 and Dutton has said the Coalition would boost the role of gas power to fill gaps in the energy grid until his reactors are built....

The Guardian, 8 June 2024:

Opposition leader reportedly told News Corp he would oppose the legislated 2030 emissions target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election....

Dutton also reportedly conceded that the Coalition’s commitment to introduce nuclear power in Australia would not lead to plants being built before 2040, a point made by experts, and critics who have accused the opposition of planning to delay action to address the climate crisis.

Yesterday's very public move against science and commonsense by Opposition Leader & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter 'The Dickson Spuddler' Dutton may or may not be news to the Climate Change Authority in the nation's capital Canberra.

I suspect that the intention of this move is to excite his flying monkeys into 'bombing' yet another independent authority in the hope of modifying its published opinion.

The Australian Government's Climate Change Authority is "an independent statutory body established under the Climate Change Authority Act 2011 to provide expert advice to the Australian Government on climate change policy." It has a Chair, along with seven members, an ex-officio member, a four member secretariat headed by a CEO and, a published Charter. The Authority meets at least every six weeks from February to December, with its latest meeting held on 14 May 2024.

This is a brief look at the Authority's views.....

2035 Emissions Reduction Targets, updated 15 May 2024, excerpts:

The Climate Change Authority is developing advice on the 2035 emissions reduction targets for Australia’s next Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), as requested by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy.....

Australia is due to submit its next NDC under the Paris Agreement in 2025. Under the Climate Change Act 2022 the Australian Government must receive the authority’s advice before submitting Australia’s next emissions reduction targets. We expect to submit our 2035 targets advice to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the fourth quarter of 2024....

The authority will provide advice on the 2035 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets it considers should be included in Australia’s next NDC. We will also advise on the social, employment and economic benefits of the targets and associated policies it recommends and the physical impacts of climate change on Australia, including for rural and regional Australia.

In accordance with the Climate Change Act 2022, our advice will include an explanation of how the targets have taken into account matters set out in Article 2 of the Paris Agreement, including the global temperature goals of well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The authority’s work is always guided by the principle set out in the Climate Change Authority Act 2011 that any measures to respond to climate change should be, among other considerations, economically efficient, environmentally effective, equitable, in the public interest and consistent with Australia’s foreign policy interests and commitments."

We consider scientific evidence to understand and advise how the global temperature goals and broader principles of the Paris Agreement should guide Australia’s domestic emissions reduction efforts.

In preparing its advice, the authority will consider the challenges and opportunities the net zero transition presents for the Australian economy, and broader contributions Australia can make to the global effort. This includes looking at how Australia can support other countries reduce their emissions and build resilience to climate change impacts, through the goods and services we export, and by building on our history of contributing to capacity building through knowledge-sharing, technology transfer and climate finance in the region.

2024 Issues Paper: Targets, Pathways and Progress, 11 April 2024, excerpt:

The evidence the authority has considered so far suggests a 2035 target in the range of 65-75% below 2005 levels would be ambitious, and could be achievable and sustainable if additional action is taken by governments, business, investors and households to achieve it. However, attempting to go much faster could risk significant levels of economic and social disruption and put progress at risk.

On the afternoon of Thursday 29 February 2029 seven Liberal Party members in pursuit of a 'gotcha' moment rose to their feet in what can only be seen as an organised racist dog whistle in the House of Representatives to question the government based on 'facts' they knew to be false

 

On Tuesday, 27 February 2024 a report of a sexual assault in the Richmond area was made to Victoria Police.

That night Victoria Police charged a 43 year-old West Papuan Richmond resident, a former immigration detainee released under a 2023 High Court ruling, with sexual assault.

The next day, Wednesday 28 February, he faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court sometime in the morning on charges of sexual assault of one woman, stalking and two counts of unlawful assault involving this woman and another in two separate incidents on the same day. He did not apply for bail.

Victoria Police held a press conference in the afternoon of the same day in which Commander Mark Galliot revealed that police had since interviewed another male Richmond resident in relation to the same offences and apologised for arresting and detaining the West Papuan man in a case of mistaken identity. This second man is not a person released from immigration detention under the High Court ruling and, does not appear to be a migrant, refugee or asylum seeker.

Within hours the charged man's case returned to the Magistrates Court where all charges against him were withdrawn due to "misidentification" and he was released.

Regardless of the relatively swift and public resolution of this incident, members of the Coalition Opposition rose in the House of Representatives on the afternoon of the following day Thursday, 29 February and began to ask questions of the Albanese Government along these lines:

Ms LEY (Farrer—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): My question is to the Minister for Immigration,

Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. When was the minister first informed that a serial sex offender that the

Albanese government had released from immigration detention had been charged with sexual assault, stalking and two counts of unlawful assault in Victoria?

Ms McKENZIE (Flinders) (14:08): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. I refer to the minister's previous answer and ask: why did the minister fail to use his powers to seek to redetain this serial sex offender and protect these two Victorian women?

Mr FLETCHER (Bradfield—Manager of Opposition Business) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for

Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Out of the 149 hardcore criminals released by the Albanese

government, how many rapists and sex offenders, apart from the one who has just been charged with sexual assault, remain at large in the community?

Mr CALDWELL (Fadden) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. On 13 February the minister assured the House that all 149 of the hardcore criminals the Albanese government released were being continuously monitored. Was this serial sex offender being continuously monitored at the time he is alleged to have sexually assaulted and stalked two women in Victoria?

Mr SUKKAR (Deakin) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. When did the minister inform the Prime Minister that this serial sex offender had committed new crimes against the Victorian community?

Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime

Minister, the immigration minister is a disaster. His decisions have put Australians at risk—

Government members interjecting—

Mr DUTTON: My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the immigration minister is a disaster. His

decisions have put Australians at risk, and women in Victoria are alleged to have been sexually assaulted. A hundred and forty-nine hardcore criminals—

Ms Thwaites interjecting— ......

Mr DUTTON: A hundred and forty-nine hardcore criminals have been released into the community. The minister has not taken a single application to redetain one of these criminals, and now more Australians are being harmed, with the likely risk extending to many more Australians. When will you show leadership, stop being so weak and sack this minister?

The Prime Minister's response.

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:53): 'We are not in a position to defy an order of the High Court, and no-one is suggesting that they should do that.' Not my words—the words of Senator Paterson. 'Under the Constitution, you can't detain someone indefinitely. We accept that.' Not my words—the words of the Leader of the Opposition. 'The High Court made the decision. We respect that decision.' Not my words—the words of the shadow minister for immigration. I'll tell you what's not strong. I'll tell you what strength is not. Strength is not asking for responses that would endanger judicial processes. That is not strong. There is no strength whatsoever in that. What is appalling is that the Leader of the Opposition knows full well that that is the case because he has been in that position, including when he was responsible for the legislation which our legislation was based upon. It was his legislation that he presided over, and he knows that that is the case.

[House of Representatives, Hansard, 29 February 2024, pp. 19, 22, 23, 25, 27]

There is little chance in light of the scant two days until the Saturday 2 March Dunkley federal by-election in Victoria that these Coalition MPs - especially Ms. McKenzie and Mr. Sukkar - were not aware of the details of the case of mistaken identity by the afternoon of Wednesday, 29 February 2024. After all, Victoria Police calling a televised press conference 24 hours earlier to essentially admit a wrongful arrest was a notable event.

It appears Ms. Ley was so determined to poison the Dunkley by-election well that she sent this tweet 1:03 hours before she asked her question in the House.

Once the mainstream media began to pick up on these misleading statements being made under parliamentary privilege and on social media, Leader of the Opposition & Liberal MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton, was quick to further mislead and infer the Minister for Immigration was to blame. Presumably for not immediately alerting them to the fact that they were about to accuse the wrong person of sexual assault. 'How were we to know?'

However, despite such a juvenile excuse in front of the camera, the fact remains that in the House and elsewhere this was deceitful politicking and racist dog whistling at its worst.

By the evening of Thursday, 29 February Victoria Police had publicly released details of the second man who was identified as a person of interest for the same offences on Wednesday 28 February 2024.

Finally, two days later at approx. 9pm on Saturday, 2 March, three hours after the polls closed, the Dunkley federal by-election was called for Labor by Antony Green and the Liberal candidate publicly conceded.

So the Coalition's sordid attempt at political theatre had missed its mark.