Senator POLLEY (Tasmania) (15:11): What an extraordinary contribution from Senator Paterson, coming in here and trying to lecture us about how we should behave when the nation is in a fire crisis. It is the government who has politicised the Defence Force in this country, and to have the minister in question time today not being able to answer the questions, trying to twist the words—you tried to do the same thing, saying it's all about authorisation. The reality is the Australian people know how you, the government, have tried to politicise the Defence Force. You're getting a reputation for it. You come in here and try to say we should be talking about closing the gap. Well, we will be talking about that this afternoon. But it's your government that has been in power for the last seven years, so to try to lecture us about closing the gap and what we should be focusing on is just a little bit rich. To use the Australian fire crisis that we Australians face and to politicise it by the Liberal Party wanting to make sure that they could raise money off the bushfire tragedy is low. That is really low even for this government. So the bar is not very high at all. But we know that, as people referred to the Prime Minister as 'Scotty from marketing', you have come in here trying to spin it. We saw a pathetic attempt by the Minister for Defence to do the same thing. Just own it. Own that you have politicised the Defence Force. You have tried to politicise and get some traction and financial gains out of the tragedy that has beset so many Australians right across this country. And it's not just what's happening in Victoria. It's in my home state of Tasmania as well. We have seen a Prime Minister who is shonky. He is absolutely shonky. He will say and do anything. This is not just what we are saying; this is, in fact, coming from people within your own party. They're asking questions when we want to turn to the shonky sports rort under Minister McKenzie. We had a question today referred to one of your parliamentary colleagues: 'Quite obviously he is referring to the Prime Minister's office and the party directors like Hirsty'— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Please resume your seat, Senator Polley. Senator Henderson? Senator Henderson: I would just ask the senator to make her remarks through the chair. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I'll listen carefully. I did think she was, but, Senator Polley, please continue. Senator POLLEY: It referred to how some people may call the Prime Minister 'Scotty from marketing'. I didn't say that—I'm quoting other people—but, quite frankly, when your own colleagues from within the government are asking the questions about what role and identifying the fact that, obviously, the Prime Minister and the director of the Liberal Party were actively involved in communicating with Senator McKenzie, that just reinforces a concern that the Australian people have about this government: that the Prime Minister is all spin. There is no substance there at all, and he will do and say whatever it takes to get elected. That's what the Australian people are seeing from this Prime Minister—that he can't be trusted. The Australian Defence Force is highly respected on both sides of the parliament. To use the ADF in a political way, which is becoming the norm for this government, is unacceptable—and Australians will find that very offensive. I have a daughter who was in the Defence Force. I have two nephews, one of whom is still serving in the Royal Australian Navy. I find it quite offensive that this government would stoop to politicising our Defence Force. It undermines the respect we have had for our Defence Force in this country for centuries. What I think the Australian people want from this government is some leadership, some transparency. They don't want them to use institutions like the Defence Force for their own political gain—because that will be short-lived; the Australian people will respond at the next election in a way that you won't like. A word of advice: stop trying to cover up for Senator McKenzie— (Time expired)