Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, it was Mr Martin Ferguson, the member from Victoria, the shadow minister at the table, who was supporting me in this and I thank him for that. I commend the bill to the House. It is a very positive initiative. The government is deserving of praise and support for this initiative. It is not a panacea to solve all the problems but it is another important step forward and I am very pleased to add my voice to the voices of those honourable members supporting the bill. I ask the member for Canberra to be a little less condemnatory when she does address these particular matters. She ought not to play politics and she ought to support this initiative, which is very positive.

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