Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Minister for Families and Social Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (10:24): I can assure this chamber that Gladys Liu, the member for Chisholm, has the full confidence of the government. Ms Liu is a very proud Australian—a very, very proud Australian, indeed. She was democratically and validly elected by the people of her electorate, the electorate of Chisholm. They elected her. They stand by her. She's the member of parliament representing the 100,000 or so people in the electorate of Chisholm. Ms Liu has made a statement in relation to the allegations about her donations and declarations, and I will read it to the chamber. Ms Liu said, 'At all times, I have sought to comply with relevant state and federal disclosure laws.' She has been very clear about accuracy in her reporting, so I think that puts to rest any accusations that her declarations have been in any way incorrect. I would also say that it's not just us in this chamber who stand by Ms Liu and have full confidence in her. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that he stands by Ms Liu. Sadly, the personal attacks on Ms Liu that we are seeing are somewhat predictable. But I'm very keen to know what you are actually accusing Ms Liu of. In her contributions, I heard the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate accusing Ms Liu of being a party fundraiser. She accused Ms Liu of being an adviser. But this doesn't make her an experienced performer on the public stage. Ms Liu has stated quite clearly that she did a clumsy interview when she went on Andrew Bolt's show last week. God forbid anybody should stand here and say that we've all been perfect whenever we've been put on the public stage! Can anybody in this place actually stand up, hand on heart, and say that they've never done a clumsy interview? Can they say that they've never done an interview or stood up in this place and said something and thought afterwards: 'Gee, I could have said that better'? I think we all have. I can certainly say that I have on occasions thought, 'Wow, I could have put that better.' That's exactly what happened to Ms Liu last week when she went on Andrew Bolt's show. But don't just listen to me. There are others in this building who are not on this side of the chamber who have expressed concerns about the way this issue has been handled by those opposite. There are people in the Labor Party who are particularly concerned about the way this issue has been handled in this place by the Labor Party. Simon Benson, the national affairs editor of The Australian, made comment in an article last week about this very issue. He said that he understood that there was a 'raging debate' within the Labor Party about the tactics that should be used on this particularly issue, commenting that the 'lowest common denominator' appears to have prevailed. One Labor MP has apparently told Mr Benson that 'in the "thinking" ranks of the caucus there was palpable dissent' about the approach intended to be taken by the Labor Party in pursuing the backbencher Ms Liu. In fact, one Labor MP said, 'We are acting like the NSW branch of One Nation,' and I assume that that's supposed to be an insult, given the way they treat One Nation in this place. The point that probably most drew my attention and had the greatest amount of resonance for me was the comment made by one of Labor's MPs, who said, 'It appears there is now no road low enough for us to make a political point.' I think we should probably stress that: even those on the other side think that the tactics are extraordinarily low. I have another comment, which probably goes very much to the direct point of why they are attacking Ms Liu. One of Labor's own said: Why it is choosing this path is a mystery to even some of Labor's own MPs who have privately expressed their disgust considering their own candidate for the same seat, Chinese Australian Jennifer Yang, has told the Liberals that she been thrown on the scrap heap by the Labor Party. Is this just a front for a very sad and very sorry attempt to be very angry about the fact that Ms Liu was successful in her election in the seat of Chisholm and defeated your own candidate? If you were to consider the comments of Mr Benson in The Australian, you would think that's exactly what it is. So what I would say to those opposite who have stood up here on two occasions and made 20-minute contributions, or thereabouts, is this: if you have any evidence, rather than continue to smear and cast innuendo over Ms Liu and her credibility and integrity, why don't you put that evidence forward? Otherwise, I think it's time for us to end this debate.