Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

If the same courtesy is returned, that would be very gratefully received. The Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer is screaming and shouting, but of course he has not got the courage, he has not got the simple guts, to debate Labor’s amendment. He is hiding behind the Leader of the House, cowering like a coward, because he does not want to come into this chamber and debate Labor’s amendment. I wouldn’t be surprised if, before this motion was cooked up last night, the Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer sneaked into the office of the Leader of the House saying, ‘Can you save me from this debate?’ and the Leader of the House said, ‘Oh well, I was only going to cook up a guillotine for the immigration motion, but if you are that fragile, I will try to fix you up as well.’

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