Mr EDE - 1994-10-06
Last month, the leader of the New Chums pack, the member for Port Darwin, stomped all over the minister on the issue of sacred sites and, yesterday, the leader of the Old Boys faction, the member for Palmerston, described the minister's leadership ambitions as 'crazy stuff'. Could the minister enlighten us as to where his support will come from? Will he admit that his brand of small 'l' liberalism may be useful to trot out in election campaigns but, in fact, has no place in today's CLP?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I find this question quite hilarious, and I am sure the parliamentary people in the gallery must be laughing their heads off and saying that they thought Question Time was designed to enable questions to be asked of ministers on matters of serious public policy in order to determine what is happening in government. However, I will deal with the question.
I have not sought support for anything. I would think that the only person in this Chamber at the moment who would be paying any attention to numbers would be the Leader of the Opposition. The reality is that we all know that he is doing his 12-month penance for having lost an election and that, at some time in the next 12 months, he will be rolled.
Members interjecting.
Page 188
Mr HATTON: He will be. It is a political truism that, when a leader loses an election, the party will stand behind that leader, revote him or her to the leadership and let them wear the acrimony of having lost the election. The party will then work the numbers over the following 12 months and somebody else will step in. Let us be honest about it. It happened to John Hewson. Prior to that, it happened to John Howard. It happened to Andrew Peacock, Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam. It happens everywhere, and it will happen to the member for Stuart.
Mr Ede: What happened to you?
Mr HATTON: My difficulty was that I won the election, and I was dumped.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! It is becoming increasingly difficult to hear the minister's answer.
Mr Ede: He won it too well.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I find this question quite hilarious, and I am sure the parliamentary people in the gallery must be laughing their heads off and saying that they thought Question Time was designed to enable questions to be asked of ministers on matters of serious public policy in order to determine what is happening in government. However, I will deal with the question.
I have not sought support for anything. I would think that the only person in this Chamber at the moment who would be paying any attention to numbers would be the Leader of the Opposition. The reality is that we all know that he is doing his 12-month penance for having lost an election and that, at some time in the next 12 months, he will be rolled.
Members interjecting.
Page 188
Mr HATTON: He will be. It is a political truism that, when a leader loses an election, the party will stand behind that leader, revote him or her to the leadership and let them wear the acrimony of having lost the election. The party will then work the numbers over the following 12 months and somebody else will step in. Let us be honest about it. It happened to John Hewson. Prior to that, it happened to John Howard. It happened to Andrew Peacock, Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam. It happens everywhere, and it will happen to the member for Stuart.
Mr Ede: What happened to you?
Mr HATTON: My difficulty was that I won the election, and I was dumped.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! It is becoming increasingly difficult to hear the minister's answer.
Mr Ede: He won it too well.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Page 189
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016