Mr SINCLAIR(5.56 p.m.) —There is nothing more hypocritical than the Labor Party when baying for blood. When you hear the member for Hotham (Mr Crean) at the table saying that the speaker before him is in some way beginning the ministerial race for the prime ministership—

Mr Brereton interjecting—

Mr SPEAKER —Order! I warn the member for Kingsford-Smith.

Mr SINCLAIR —I find it quite fascinating, when he did not even have the temperament the other night to stay in the House. What happened? He lost his cool and was expelled. When the action happened, the member for Hotham wasn't even here.

You look at the record of those that are on the front bench and you look at Labor and you think, `Here are these pious people, these upholders of integrity and honesty.' After all, remember Mal Colston. Let us run through the record. Remember Gary Punch, minister for aviation, when he was trying to block the second parallel runway at Kingsford Smith airport? We have the former Speaker, the member for Watson (Mr Leo McLeay), one of those great advocates of propriety. Remember that compensation bill? I wonder how his elbow is?

If you are going to try to bay for blood in this place, what you have to do is at least know what you are talking about. To start off with, we have two cries this afternoon. One is for the resignation of the Prime Minister (Mr Howard), according to the Labor Party. The other is that there should at least be a judicial inquiry. I can tell those in the opposition that, when it comes to an Auditor-General's report, there is no better basis to establish the facts. The Labor Party seems to feel there is something odd in coming to the House and doing as the Prime Minister did—agreeing to have a full and proper open scrutiny, as there is through an Auditor-General's report, into factors of which he has only just become aware.

It is important that people put in contrast the fair and open way in which the Prime Minister has enabled a true scrutiny not only of ministerial but of members' travel allowances. He is not only looking at the superficiality—

Mr Kelvin Thomson —So he briefed Laurie Oakes, did he?

Mr SINCLAIR —Chequebook journalism has been around a long time. I can tell you that that same Laurie Oakes revealed a budget a few years ago, and I have often wondered who paid what for it.

As far as the actual circumstances tonight are concerned, what the people of Australia need to know is that this government has put in place practices which Labor tried to conceal. What did the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Beazley) do when the records of Mal Colston first came to knowledge? He allowed Mal Colston to pay the money back. Senator Colston should have gone through the same scrutiny that the Prime Minister is ensuring that all the members of this House go through. Don't forget the sandwich shop affair. Don't forget the whole of the whiteboard affair. Don't forget Senator Richardson and don't forget the Marshall Islands. Don't forget Senator Bolkus. But think how long it took. We had it day after day, week after week. The former member for Canberra with the whiteboard: that took, what, a fortnight? It took a year—day after day. We had the then Prime Minister, Mr Keating, in this House pretending all was well.

What happened this week? We lost two excellent ministers, the former Minister for Administrative Services and the former Min-

ister for Transport and Regional Development. They lost their places only because they had the integrity to immediately acknowledge there were errors in what they did.

It is a sad and sorry day in parliament when there seems to be a propensity to judge people before they are found to be guilty and, as far as I am concerned and as far as the people are concerned, the Auditor-General's report is where this matter should be left.

Mr SPEAKER —Order! It being 6 p.m., the debate is interrupted. The House stands adjourned until 12.30 p.m. next Monday.