Senator PATERSON (Victoria) (15:11): Smear by association is one of the cheapest, nastiest arguments to be made, and it is befitting of an intellectual lightweight. I had the misfortune of sitting in the Senate last night to hear Senator Keneally's contribution to the adjournment debate, and I've had the misfortune again to hear the attacks by Senator Keneally and Senator Wong on Senator Stoker and others in this place. Attacking someone for attending an event where someone else has views that you find objectionable is a cheap and nasty smear—as I said, befitting of an intellectual lightweight. On this side of the chamber we believe in personal responsibility, not collective responsibility. People who say things that are reprehensible deserve to be held responsible for it. People who happen to attend conferences with other people who say things that are reprehensible do not deserve to be held responsible for it. Please allow me to illustrate why, for your benefit, Senator Keneally. I imagine that you, along with all your colleagues, have over the years attended many national conferences of the Labor Party that were attended by people such as John Setka. Am I to hold you personally responsible for all the offensive things John Setka has said over the years? Does attending a conference with him constitute your endorsement and agreement with all his ideas, all the things he's said? Senator Keneally interjecting— Senator PATERSON: I'll take that interjection. Senator Keneally, you said you're kicking him out. Yes, you are kicking him out now. The straw has finally broken the camel's back when it comes to John Setka. But it took an attack on Rosie Batty for you to do that. What about every other statement he made prior to that? What about his attack, outside the front of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, where he said that the families and children of public servants deserve to be attacked and singled out for their work? Senator Wong: You're standing up with racists. You're on the stage with racists. It's not the same thing. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Wong, Senator Paterson has the right to be heard in silence. Senator Abetz, a point of order? Senator Abetz: I think the opposition leader should withdraw the personal allegation against Senator Paterson that he's standing on a platform with racists. Senator Wong: I should have said Senator Stoker is standing on a platform with racists. I'll withdraw, and I'll replace it with that. Senator Abetz: That is clearly a reflection on— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I think we're getting into debating points. Senator Abetz: No, the standing orders— The PRESIDENT: Senator Abetz, please resume your seat. Minister? Senator Cormann: What I would ask you to do is to perhaps take this on notice and consider, because there is a very clear standing order that requires for there not to be reflections on the motivations of individual members and senators and that is, on the face of it, a breach of them, and I think it should be considered on notice. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: On the same point of order, Senator Wong? Senator Wong: I don't think there is any argument that the same conference Senator Stoker is attending is being attended by Raheem Kassam, who has labelled the Koran fundamentally evil and campaigned against Muslim migration. Now, I think that's racist. This is a statement of fact. I'm not making assertions. People can draw their own conclusions. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Wong and Senator Cormann, resume your seats. I didn't hear the comment, so I will take your advice, Senator Cormann, and we will review the tapes and come back if there is anything to report on. Please continue your remarks, Senator Paterson, and I will ask others to listen respectfully. Senator PATERSON: Thank you, Madam Deputy President. I would be sensitive too if I had a decades-long personal and political association with characters as unsavoury as John Setka. Those opposite should be ashamed of their long association with someone of such poor character, and it reflects very poorly on them that it has taken them as long as it has for them to denounce him. But if it's good enough for them to level these accusations against coalition senators, then they should accept the exact same standard for themselves. If they think the attendance of Senator Stoker and Mr Kelly, from the other place, at a conference with people who have obviously objectionable views, that they're personally responsible for that, then you should all be willing to stand up here and take personal responsibility for the views that you've become associated with over the years by attending conferences with people such as John Setka. John Setka, by the way, is far from the only person to attend Labor Party conferences over the years with objectionable and offensive views, and if I had more time in this place I would go through all the other union officials who have threatened violence, who have made despicable smears against people's characters, that you've happily palled around with at your Labor conferences for years and years. The best thing I can do to close this discussion, though, is to read out the fantastic statement that Senator Stoker put out, in response to Senator Keneally's smear last night. Senator Stoker says: 'Senator Keneally is so muddle headed, so weak in her thinking, that she seems to believe that everyone who walks into a room, by definition, has the same views on all issues. Any sensible person can see that that's not so. She said: If we are doing our job properly as politicians, we should be talking with people from all walks of life, every day. We won’t agree with them all. Trying to shame into silence anyone who would speak to a person who is wrong on an issue damages our capacity for constructive democracy. When we are confronted with people with whom we disagree, we need to talk to them more, not less. She continued, 'We need to engage with and persuade people whose ideas we disagree with— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Paterson, please resume your seat. Senator Cormann. Senator Cormann: The Leader of the Opposition is well aware— Senator Wong interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, order. We've got a point of order. Senator Cormann: that interjections are disorderly. Senator Wong is constantly interjecting, and I would ask you to call her to order. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Cormann. I have asked senators to listen respectfully and I have asked Senator Wong, in particular, to do that. I'll ask senators, once again, to listen respectfully to the debate. I call Senator Paterson. Senator PATERSON: I wouldn't want to hear it either, because I think it frames very clearly the dirty and despicable smear they're engaging in here. Stoker continues: 'It also means you can't walk into a room without doing background checks on everyone—that would be a real problem in the Labor Party. It's stupid, impractical and harmful for civil society. Clearly, Senator Keneally would rather that Australians are silenced and siloed, rather than be able to interact with people who have different beliefs.' Senator Stoker says, 'While I don't know all the speakers at CPAC, I'm proud to be talking about economic productivity at an event with people of the calibre of John Anderson AO, Jacinta Price and Janet Albrechtsen, to name a few. If Senator Keneally had any intellectual consistency, she would also be casting nasty labels on other people—like Steve Baxter, the former Labor appointed head of the Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, of course, but she doesn't.'