Senator CALVERT(3.43 p.m.) —I have been here for nine years and I have never heard a dissertation like that in my life in this place. The accusations made against Senator Newman were not only spurious; they were absolutely wrong.

Senator Bob Collins —How would you know?

Senator CALVERT —The accusation about the Mowbray office for a start is absolutely wrong. Let us get back to what this is all about. On Monday in question time, Senator Denman, a Tasmanian, obviously set out to get a headline in the Mercury —in the local paper—and they gave it to her. The question was:

Do you think it is appropriate for the Minister for Social Security, in these times of financial stringency, to have spent $53,761 on fitting out your ministerial office and $15,345 on furniture.

One of the interjections from Senator Collins was:

You could buy a house in Launceston for the same price.

And it went on. I looked through the answers that Senator Newman gave and time and time again she spoke about professional supervision, about the Department of Administrative Services and the way that they did not supervise this correctly.

When you look at the costs that were involved you see that, of the $53,000 spent on the fit-out, $31,000 was for electrical work. Senator Newman has been in that office for over 10 years—I have visited it on many occasions—and it is an old house. It is certainly not grand. Half the time you have to sit outside on the veranda at the back to get a bit of extra room.

Senator Newman was trying to save the taxpayer money by fitting out a couple of old rooms underneath for her staff. Most of the money was taken up in electrical work. I guess, if you had had a professional quote done on that place in the first instance, they probably would have advised the minister against doing anything. They probably would have advised her to move somewhere else. Senator Newman, being a true Tasmanian, spent $17,000 on new furniture for extra staff. I looked through the $17,000 and saw where the furniture came from. It came from Tasmanian Executive Furniture. It is all Tasmanian furniture.

Let us have a look at some of these other figures. Senator Sherry, when he had his fit-out, spent $27,000 on furniture. You could buy a house in Launceston for that, Senator Collins. That is $10,000 more than Senator Newman spent. Let us have a look at former minister Duncan Kerr, who only had to move into the Commonwealth offices in Hobart. The offices were already there; all they needed was a fit-out. There was $80,000 spent just on fit-out. We are talking about ministers. How much do you reckon he spent on furniture? He spent $33,000. That is almost the amount the minister spent on all the electrical work.

Senator Bob Collins —Did he bucket the workers? Did he talk about `stuff-ups'?

Senator CALVERT —Senator Newman did not attack the workers. She attacked the department and the professional supervision, and she had every right to do so.

Senator Bob Collins —Did she?

Senator CALVERT —She certainly did, if you had been listening to what Senator Newman had to say about the mess-ups that were made in lifting up the carpet and all the electrical stuff. I feel sorry for everybody concerned. Obviously the whole fit-out was not planned and carried out correctly.

Today we have Senator Murphy trying to raise the matter again, trying to get another headline in the paper. That is what it is all about. It is a political stunt that the Labor Party has tried to pull against the minister from Tasmania.

Senator Murphy —Mr Deputy President, I raise a point of order. Senator Calvert is clearly misleading the house. I have not raised the issue for the purposes of getting a headline or otherwise. I raised it on the basis of the ministerial code of conduct. Ministers have an obligation to be honest with this chamber in the comments they make.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —That is a point of view, Senator Murphy, not a point of order. There is no point of order.

Senator Faulkner interjecting—

Senator CALVERT —I ask the senator to withdraw that unparliamentary remark that you would have heard, Mr Deputy President.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —There is so much noise in this chamber that it is very hard to hear anything, so I did not hear an unparliamentary remark.

Senator CALVERT —It is the sort of abuse you usually get from that side. In conclusion, I would like to clarify an accusation that was made by Senator Mackay against Senator Newman, reflecting on a lack of ability to work for Tasmania, which I think is a bit of a joke.

Only yesterday I gave notice of a motion which, in stark contrast to what the Labor Party had done to Tasmania, highlighted the great effect of the Tasmania package, in particular the freight equalisation payment made to passenger ferries, which your lot never did, and the tremendous contribution that is making to tourism in Tasmania, which is something the Labor Party never talked about. To reflect on Senator Newman in such terms after the work she has done for Tasmania in putting together the Tasmania package, which is something the Labor Party could never do, I think is a bit rich coming from Senator Mackay.