Manufacturing Sector

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (15:19): Supplementary: can the minister confirm that he made a similar fool of himself grandstanding at a Senate hearing last week here in Adelaide?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:19): I welcome the honourable member's supplementary question. I welcome it very much. We know that there is a vicious preselection contest going on within the South Australian Liberal Party over who gets preselected for the next Senate. We have seen most of the possible Senate candidates making complete geese of themselves, making complete dills of themselves, in their effort to try and win favour of the preselectors within the Liberal Party. We have seen them grandstanding on all sorts of issues, making completely uninformed comments right across a whole range of things.

This extended last Friday to a Senate estimates committee meeting and to Senator Sean Edwards, who has reasonable reason to believe his preselection for a winnable Senate spot is under threat, I must say, by some of those sitting opposite involved in it, but that will be a matter for another day. Senator Sean Edwards certainly made a number of points which were completely ill informed and were refuted in the most vigorous possible way.