Senator CAMERON (New South Wales) (15:15): The reason why no-one would want to interrupt that diatribe is that it proves the point. It proves the very point that we want to make here today—that the so-called royal commission is simply a tool of the Liberal Party of Australia and the hatred they have for trade unionists and the trade union movement. Nobody could have made it more forcefully than Senator Macdonald in what we have just heard from him. Instead of trying to defend former Justice Heydon and the witch-hunt that he now sits over the top of, he runs another attack on the trade union movement and the decent people who represent workers in this country. But we are used to that and we will hear much more of it. The issue here is whether the royal commissioner, Dyson Heydon, is conflicted in terms of his capacity to preside impartially over this inquiry. What we have seen is a number of issues at that royal commission. The first one being the bias towards witnesses getting access to cross-examination and that not being allowed for union officials who are under attack by Dyson Heydon and the Liberal Party. One issue of bias is the very nature of how that royal commission is being undertaken. It is okay if you are a friend of the Liberal Party, you can get cross-examination, but if you are a union official then no cross-examination from your lawyers— Senator Conroy: One special union official! Senator CAMERON: That's right—one special union official. And we also have the proposition here that so-called Justice Heydon—I think he has long lost that title—can sit on, supposedly, an impartial basis and then make comment about the evidence of the Leader of the Opposition. Nothing could have been more political; nothing could have been more biased. Nothing could have been a more public demonstration of why this royal commissioner is unfit to preside over this royal commission. And then we come to the doozy. We know that Dyson Heydon has got a long family pedigree of links to the Liberal Party, going back to Sir Robert Menzies. We know that. We know that he was appointed because he is a conservative judge and will do the bidding of the Liberal Party in the attacks on the trade union movement— Senator Smith: Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I do not think it helps Senator Cameron's argument to be pointing out the virtues of— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, but what is your point of order, Senator Smith? Senator Smith: I do not think it helps Senator Cameron's case to be pointing out the virtues of Dyson Heydon— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I am not sure there is anything to rule on there but, just in case there was, Senator Smith, I rule there is no point of order. Senator CAMERON: Senator Smith, I hope you do better in your contribution than in your point of order. That being as it may, there is Dyson Heydon, with long links to the Liberal Party, being appointed on a multimillion-dollar retainer to actually preside over a witch-hunt against the trade union movement. That is all it is. There is no doubt that Dyson Heydon is not an appropriate officer to be presiding over this royal commission. He is quite clearly biased and he is quite clearly partisan. There is no argument about that. The documentary trail clearly shows that, while he was the royal commissioner, he was prepared to address a Liberal Party fundraiser. He was prepared to abandon all evidence of any impartiality to go to a Liberal Party fundraiser and address his Liberal Party peers. There is no doubt about that. This is a man who has disqualified himself because of his actions. This is a man who has got no credibility to preside over any impartial judgement of any issues. And it makes it even worse that this is the Prime Minister's royal commission, set up to attack his political opponents, the trade union movement and promote the interests of the Liberal Party.