Mr STEPHEN SMITH(7.30 p.m.) —This evening I want to return to one of my favourite topics, the Western Australian Liberal Party. Normally I would deal with the Western Australian Liberal Party and their members here, particularly if the member for Swan (Mr Randall) were in the chamber, as he is tonight. But tonight I want to do something different and focus on the Western Australian Liberals in the Senate. Why? Because the Western Australian Liberal senators are currently up for preselection. When nominations closed on 15 October there was a big field for three spots, because Senator Ellison, the minister, Senator Campbell, the parliamentary secretary, and Senator Knowles are all up for grabs.

My spies—the member for Swan and the member for Cowan (Mr Richard Evans) know that my spies in the Liberal Party are very good—tell me that Senator Campbell is in trouble. He is in trouble from Mr David Parker, the Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Kimberley at the last state election and the man who came third behind Senator Lightfoot in the casual vacancy preselection. Why is Ian in trouble? Ian is in trouble because he has dudded his base; he has dudded the great mining and prospecting industry in the north-west and the north-eastern goldfields of Western Australia. He has been caught out over section 23(pa) of the Income Tax Amendment Act. At every step in the process, when he had a chance to stand up for the Western Australian prospecting industry, he has let them down.

So what is Ian now doing? He is going back to Noel country—out there with the charters to the north-west and the north-east, desperately trying to drum up support. In the process he is making the most outrageous misrepresentations in respect of section 23(pa). We know that on 13 December 1996, in a memo signed by all Western Australian Liberal senators, the state councillors of the Liberal Party, who have a role in these preselections, were told:

State councillors will be pleased to know that as a result of urging by the WA Liberal senators, the Government accepted an amendment to extend the deadline for the tax free sale of mining leases by bona fide prospectors for 5 years.

So on 13 December it was all their work, all Senator Campbell's work. But what do we discover in the course of this year when Senator Cook moved amendments in the Senate to remove this provision? We find this reported in the West Australian on Tuesday, 28 August:

Democrat Senator Andrew Murray said yesterday that WA Liberal Senator Ian Campbell, who is parliamentary secretary to Mr Costello, had lobbied him to vote against an amendment that would give prospectors a five-year breathing space before the tax is introduced.

. . . . . . . . .

Senator Campbell's lobbying in favour of the tax has angered members of the Liberal State Council.

So he is sprung by Senator Murray, who says he had actually been out there trying to lobby against it. Senator Campbell is not slow on these things. In the Senate Red , which is his weekly newsletter, dated August 29, shortly after he has been sprung by Murray, he says:

To those who would like to discuss the details of the five year grandfathering provisions negotiated by the Liberal Senate team (with the acknowledged support of Democrat Senator Andrew Murray) I invite you to contact me.

So it has gone from all his work to, `We acknowledge Senator Andrew Murray after he springs me in the parliament.'

Then on 13 September we find that Ross Lightfoot is going to cross the floor on the issue. He never ended up crossing it. I have got a letter from Lightfoot to Campbell dated 26 September saying it is all shocking and terrible. Ian, not making much progress, decides as a last resort to communicate with the preselectors through the Kalgoorlie Miner. So on 30 September he gets a letter to the Kalgoorlie Miner which is signed by all the Western Australian senators on 23(pa) which says:

We as Liberal Senators for Western Australia have campaigned heavily for the amendment to accommodate the concerns expressed by miners and prospectors.

. . . . . . . . .

We as Western Australian Liberal Senators lobbied extensively for a five-year transition period for miners and prospectors . . . The valuation requirements were inserted by the Labor Party and the Democrats in the Senate.

So it has gone from `All my work' in December to `I acknowledge Murray's role', and when he is in real trouble because he has been sprung, by letter to the Kalgoorlie Miner published in early October, he says, `It is all the Labor Party's fault.'

You really need to see the three drafts of the letter. The first draft came out from Chris Ellison's fax at 9 o'clock on 2 October. The handwritten changes came out at 12 o'clock and it took them until 6 o'clock that night to get it to the Kalgoorlie Miner. Do you know why? Because all the other Liberal senators were saying to Ian, `Ian, we are not quite sure we can say all this, mate. We are not quite sure it is true. We think this is a big porky.' And Ian said to them, `Please sign, because my neck is in the noose. They will get me if I do not get this out. I have got to blame someone else when it is all my fault.'

Mr Cadman —I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I do not like to interrupt the adjournment debate, but there is a standing order 75 that speaks about reflection on members of the other house, and I think that the member for Perth needs to be careful in relation to that standing order.

Mr SPEAKER —I thank the parliamentary secretary. The honourable member's time has expired.

Mr Stephen Smith —On the point of order, Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table all the documents I have, which prove conclusively the case I have made. Is leave granted?

Leave not granted.