Senator McKENZIE (Victoria—Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) (17:12): As a Victorian, I am someone who has seen my home state slowly come out of its fourth lockdown as a result of a state premier absolutely obsessed with power and with a totalitarian approach to running our state like I have never seen in this country. The facts are that we face a global pandemic and, in about March last year, the Prime Minister rightly called all leaders in this country—himself as Prime Minister of the nation and every single one of our premiers and chief ministers—to discuss seriously as one nation how we were going to deal with a global pandemic the likes of which we had not seen since the Spanish flu. It was in that national cabinet that Premier McGowan, the Labor Premier from WA, Premier Palaszczuk, the Labor Premier from Queensland, Chief Minister Barr, the Labor Chief Minister from the ACT, Chief Minister Gunner, the Labor Chief Minister from the NT and Premier Daniel Andrews, the Premier of 'Danistan', as we now know him, all agreed— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator O'Neill ): A point of order, Senator Watt? Senator Watt: Madam Acting Deputy President, you've quite correctly ruled that members should be referred to by their proper titles, and I'd ask that Senator McKenzie do the same. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, your point is noted. Senator McKenzie, do you wish to seek clarification on that point of order? Senator McKENZIE: I wish to make a submission to the point of order. I was not referring to Premier Daniel Andrews by anything other than that title. My home state has, in fact, become known as 'Danistan'. I wasn't referring to Daniel Andrews by anything other than his name. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie, if you can just reflect on your comments and continue your contribution, thank you. Senator McKENZIE: Well, thank you for your positive ruling in my case. Thank you, Chair— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, I wouldn't want to characterise it as particularly positive or negative. Senator McKenzie, I cannot leave your comment unnoted. I seek that you don't reflect on my ruling—that you accept it and you do as I've asked you: to continue your comments, mindful of a decorous conversation on this matter of importance in the parliament. Thank you. Senator McKENZIE: Thank you, Madam Acting Deputy President. So, coming, as I do, from Danistan: all of those Labor premiers and chief ministers agreed in March that they would take responsibility for quarantine and we would take responsibility for other aspects of dealing, as a nation, with a global pandemic. Premier McGowan has been tough on the borders, but you know what? He doesn't hold a candle to Daniel Andrews's failures. Premier Palaszczuk—at least you can contact trace in Queensland. In Victoria, they cannot contact-trace a zebra crossing Collins Street, after 18 months. So, if you want to talk about where the failures in our system are in this country, I lay them firmly at the feet of the ministers who've failed—from health ministers right up to the premier—in my home state of Victoria, who, 18 months after the fact, have only one trick in their back pocket on how to deal with outbreaks in my home state, and that is to lock everybody down—everyone, put your masks back on; you can't leave home; you can't get married; you can't bury your loved ones; you can't get elective surgery done; you can't open your business. Of the latest lockdown, the first seven days cost regional Victoria $150 million. It just sounds like a number to people who don't care about small businesses, but these are people who've put their mortgages on the line to run these businesses and have absolutely no certainty. And you know how confident people are in Danistan about our state government's ability to manage the COVID-19— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator O'Neill ): Senator McKenzie, please resume your seat. A point of order, Senator Watt? Senator Watt: Thank you, Madam Acting Deputy President. I noted that you asked Senator McKenzie to reflect on her language, and I can see that she is flagrantly ignoring you, and I'd ask that you bring her to order, please. Senator Seselja interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, we're getting a little exercised here! Yes, Senator Seselja? Senator Seselja: On the point of order: it's not clear to me at all how the use of language by Senator McKenzie could possibly breach a standing order. If there is to be a ruling against Senator McKenzie, it would be good if that were clarified, because, on my reading of the standing orders, there is no standing order that is offended. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you for your contribution there, Senator Seselja. Can I just indicate to you, Senator McKenzie, that it is good practice to speak in plain English so that the people of the state might recognise that you are speaking to them, and I encourage you to use the term 'Victoria'. I'm assuming you are a proud senator of the state. It would be helpful if you could refer to it as 'Victoria' going forward in the debate. Thank you. Senator McKENZIE: On our current malaise: I am a proud Victorian, and, just to assure you, Madam Acting Deputy President, everyone in Victoria understands where we're talking about when we talk about Danistan— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Well, Senator— Senator McKENZIE: because we are actually living in a totalitarian state— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie, please take a seat. Senator McKENZIE: But— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie, resume your seat. Yes, Senator Watt? Senator Watt: I think you know what I'm going to say, Madam Acting Deputy President. The senator keeps ignoring your requests. She's making adverse reflections on the premier of another state, and I submit that that's unparliamentary language. Senator McGrath: Sorry—there's a point of order— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I'm ruling on Senator Watt's matter first. I'll come to you in a moment, Senator McGrath. Senator McGrath: I have a point of order. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Trust me. I'll come to you. Senator Watt, your point is— Senator McGrath: My point of order is on Senator Watt's. I should be able to do a point of order on a point of order. Honourable senators interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senators, I did use the word 'decorous'. I think that this has descended way past that. Senator McKenzie, I think it's pretty clear that this is a heated issue and it matters to everyone. It would be helpful if you could make a contribution that doesn't ignore the general guidance that I'm attempting to give you, and I would ask senators if we can take the temperature down a little with regard to this debate. Senator McGrath. Senator McGrath: I seek clarification. Is 'Danistan' being ruled as unparliamentary? Either the senator can say 'Danistan' or she cannot say 'Danistan'. We need a ruling either way, because Labor clearly are on a slippery slope—or slippery stairs, indeed. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McGrath, please take a seat. Just to be clear, there is no point of order and, if you wish to have a debate on that, I suggest you find another vehicle to advance that in the parliament. Senator McGrath interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McGrath, we are moving on. There will be no further points of order on this particular matter. Senator McGrath interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McGrath, please take your seat. I call Senator McKenzie. Senator McKENZIE: Thank you, Madam Acting Deputy President. I thank my colleagues for their support. It has been like living in a gulag living in Victoria for the last 18 months, where at any given moment, because this guy cannot contact-trace, because he's got a bureaucracy that's doing its best but doesn't have the systems in place, the state can be locked down at a moment's notice in such a draconian way. This isn't about Labor versus Liberal, because I praise the Chief Minister of the ACT, Chief Minister Barr, for having recognised that regional Victorians didn't carry the same COVID risk that someone from Melbourne might have in an earlier breakout, so he sensibly applied a definition of a hotspot that was nuanced and wasn't just this carte blanche 'lock up and leave' approach of Daniel Andrews in my home state. That is the reality. Those opposite are characterising how Victorian senators in this place feel about how our citizenry is being treated, how our economy's been decimated and how at the end of last year 26,000 people fled to other states to live. If you had seen the line-up of cars, including four-wheel drives, with tents stuffed in the back or caravans hitched to the back, with families shoved in them so they could exit Melbourne as quickly as possible at the start of the last lockdown, you would have thought you were in a Third World country and we were about to have a military coup. That is actually the reality, because none of these decisions are being made on medical advice. They are simply being made by an incompetent state government which cannot get its act together after 18 months. I will call once again for a nationally consistent approach to the definition of a hotspot—that would be great—a nationally consistent approach to handling quarantine and a consistent approach to contact tracing, because both Labor and Liberal states have been able to keep themselves open and going, but there is something decaying and wrong at the heart of the state Labor government in my home state, the name of which starts D and ends with N. Really, you have to live there to understand what it feels like. Presentations to hospitals and specialists by young people with mental health issues have increased by upwards of 30 per cent as a result of this behaviour. Elective surgeries have been postponed. People are now in danger of not getting the health care they need, because of these restrictions. It is absolutely unprecedented, it is unwarranted and it is simply because of their incompetence. For those opposite to come in here from states that are not having to endure this—this particular matter of public importance has been lodged by a Western Australian Labor senator, not even someone who's actually having to live with the reality of these decisions—really gets our goat. If you had to go through it, you couldn't believe it. Towns like Mildura are 550 clicks from Melbourne and had lockdown restrictions forced upon them, despite recording zero cases. That's not zero cases this week, this month or this year; it's zero cases ever. But they got, 'We're going to lock down your main street and we're going to stop you burying your loved ones.' We saw a tragic case of that in Warrnambool: a mother begging to have a funeral for her primary-school-aged son down in Warrnambool, and she was denied an exemption by a premier who cares more about inducing Stockholm syndrome in his citizenry to secure the next election than he actually does— Senator McGrath interjecting— Senator McKENZIE: Yes, good question. He cares more for that that he actually does for the health, wellbeing and economic future of our once very proud state. We have those opposite coming in here and taking cheap political shots, when they all know that the Premier has made that decision and that we have fast-tracked an MOU for a federal quarantine facility in Victoria. We took that proposal from the Victorian Labor government—despite them not offering to put a cent on the table, I might add. Those opposite do that, despite knowing we're doing everything and that the vaccine rate is actually accelerating. Every single group of Australians who are getting vaccinated have it happening quicker and quicker, which is great news. And that's despite us stepping in with essential economic support for Victorian families and businesses. They want to talk about us all being in this together. I can tell them that if they lived in my home state of 'Danistan' they'd know it doesn't feel like we're all in this together. It feels like we're paying the price for a premier who is drunk on power— Senator Van interjecting— Senator McKENZIE: Drunk on power, Senator Van. We've done the right thing in striking the balance. I call on all leaders of this nation to develop a consistent approach to hotspots and quarantine so that we actually can deal with the pandemic. (Time expired)