Socialist Senator Doug Cameron bows out

Retiring Labor senator Doug Cameron has put his long career in unions and politics down to a lifelong commitment to a single pursuit.

"It all comes down to one thing - socialism," before noting coalition senators had almost fainted at the suggestion.

That prompted applause from dozens of Labor senators and MPs who gathered in the chamber to see him off.

Senator Cameron said he subscribed to the view that socialism was against war, poverty, monopolies, racial discrimination and greed.

"It's another word for equality," he said on Wednesday.

He pointed out the coalition had a socialist in their ranks - pointing the finger at Nationals senator John Williams who will join his mate from across the aisle in retirement at the next election.

"My old mate Wacka Williams over there is an agrarian socialist if I've ever seen one," Senator Cameron said.

"What other reason could there be for a farmer and a trade unionist to get along so well?"

Senator Cameron reserved a trademark "rabble" sledge at the coalition government in his thick Scottish accent.

He spoke about migrating to Australia as an economic refugee in 1973 before working as a fitter at the Liddell power plant in NSW where he started his ascension through the union movement.

It wasn't all droll trips down memory lane.

The Labor frontbencher savaged far-right crossbenchers Pauline Hanson and Fraser Anning as "incubators of hate and intolerance".

"I strongly urge working class Queenslanders to give this treacherous, treasonous rabble the boot at the upcoming election," he said.

He also targeted the Howard government's industrial relations laws and attacks on unions before welcoming the prospect of a Shorten-led Labor election victory next month.

"The Labor Party again feels like the Labor Party I joined many years ago. It is unashamedly progressive, pro-worker, pro-women, outward-looking and confident," Senator Cameron said.

Senator Cameron's Queensland Labor colleague Claire Moore also delivered her final speech, ending almost 18 years in parliament.