Michael Smith News
Ms Gillard sat and watched as Craig Thomson spoke to the House of Representatives for one hour carried live on television. She watched as Mr Thomson used the Parliament's time, the nation's time and a good deal of the parliament's standing to suggest that a union organiser Marco Bolano had set him up with "hookers" to ruin his political career.
Children watched this happen. Aspiring leaders saw the result of toughing it out. Many foolish commentators called the behaviours tough, bulletproof, gutsy.
But that's not what it was. It was tawdry and cheap and beneath the dignity and privilege of the Parliament.
Like the Coat of Arms atop the Parliament House building, the virtues found in our character will endure. They might be temporarily usurped by people of bad character, but like Gillard's government, that can only ever be temporary.
Today I hope we remember the lies, the bad behaviour, the coverups, the corruption. Today I hope we mark a conscious decision to reassert our values, to reassert the privilege and responsibilities of the parliament and the people it represents.
It would be wrong simply to forget, to say it belongs to the past, to let it go. Justice must be done and manifestly seen to be done.
I wish Tony Abbott and his ministry well. While he might find it personally distasteful, he must make certain we don't forget what his predecessors did. Or the consequences that should be coming their way.
