Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (15:10): This is just a complete stunt. I'll tell you why it's a stunt. What I'm being asked to do at 12.20 pm on Monday is what I do every day in question time—every single day. The answer I'd be providing at 12.20 pm on Monday, if this motion were to get up, would be the same answer I would be giving to any question asked in question time. It's a stunt that is part of a political strategy. Senator Wong let the cat out of the bag when she said that this is about a one-seat majority. She let the cat out of the bag. This is all about Labor somehow thinking that, despite the verdict of the Australian people at the last election, they can somehow find a way to sneak themselves back into contention for getting into government. That is what this is all about. What do you do when you pursue a smear? You refer to media reports. We know how media reports can happen. As it happens, the ABC published an article titled 'Australian Liberal MP Gladys Liu's links to secretive United Front Chinese influence arm'. But, as it turns out, Ms Liu's Labor opponent at the last election, Jennifer Yang, was a member of the same organisation. Now, do you think Senator Wong would be asking me the same question if the Labor candidate had been successful and if Senator Wong was the foreign minister of Australia right now? No, she would not. This is hypocrisy writ large. This is political opportunism and hypocrisy writ large, and it will not do you any favours whatsoever. It is true that Gladys Liu has been very active in the Chinese community in Australia, as many other Chinese Australians have been—indeed, as the Labor candidate in Chisholm at the last election appears to have been. That is no reason to do to a newly elected member of parliament what the Labor Party is doing now. There's only one reason you're doing what you're doing, and that is that you think it could somehow get you one seat closer to the prize that you thought you had already won but turned out not to be available for you, because the Australian people made a judgement that they preferred our plan to build a stronger economy to your politics-of-envy socialist agenda that would have made Australia poorer and Australians poorer and weaker. We will not be supporting this suspension. I might also say that Gladys Liu and Jennifer Yang were made honorary chairwomen of the United Chinese Commerce Association of Australia at the same time. Indeed, the Labor candidate, Ms Yang, attended the same World Trade United Foundation sponsored event in Melbourne in August 2017, appearing on stage, seated in the back row, along with Bruce Atkinson and Gladys Liu. Labor's candidate in Chisholm, Jennifer Yang, said she did not recall being formally appointed an honorary chairwoman of the United Chinese Commerce Association of Australia. Incidentally, is that the association that took the then shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen, to China? Is it the same association? This is the lowest of the low. The Labor Party should hang their heads in shame, in terms of how they are pursuing this. You should absolutely hang your heads in shame. I could go through more parallels to demonstrate the absolute hypocrisy in Labor pursuing this. This is confected interest about somehow having national security related concerns. You don't have national security related concerns in relation to the member for Chisholm. You know that it is completely inappropriate for you to pursue this the way you're pursuing it. Again, I think everyone in this chamber knows what this is about. This is about the Labor Party having lost a seat that they thought they already had in their pocket. You were so confident in the lead-up to the last election. Not only had you already measured for carpet and curtains in The Lodge but you had the removalist vans ready to go, to move in. And now, here you are. You didn't get there because a majority of the people of Chisholm preferred our candidate and preferred our agenda for a stronger economy, for more jobs and to keep Australians safe and secure to the alternative, and you can't get over it. If you want to be competitive at the next election, you've got to get yourself to stage 7 of the seven stages of grief, and that is acceptance. Acceptance of the verdict of the Australian people is going to be a prerequisite for you to be able to be competitive in the lead-up to the next election. This is a disgraceful stunt. Whether I'm appearing at 12.20 pm on Monday or 2 pm on Monday, the answers will be the same.