Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

For the National Party to be concerned about rorting is absolutely beyond belief. For the Leader of the National Party to come in here and say that an amendment to this legislation that stands up for country people would be rorted! I think he should take another five minutes to explain how this could be rorted. I cannot believe he even used the word ‘rorting’ after what he has been through in the last few years. We have had an audit inquiry into the rorting of the Regional Partnerships processes, the breaches of the Financial Management and Accountability Act as well as the program’s whole guidelines. No wonder the Leader of the National Party has left the chamber.

To come in here and condemn my well-meaning amendment—supported by the member for Kennedy—to a rather stupid piece of legislation that the government has put up and say it is something that could be rorted says to me that the National Party have done absolutely no homework on any of this. They have assumed that, by just opposing the government, the legislation will drift through and the government will get the blame for it. I do not think the government will be totally getting the blame for this. If the National Party do not support the amendment, they will clearly display that they really do not care about this issue.

The shadow Treasurer spoke at great lengths about these people in the bush and their country vehicles. He said he had great sympathy for those with LandCruisers and believed that these vehicles should not be classified as luxury vehicles. But he will not vote that way. It is becoming a bit of a trademark for him—he says one thing to please one constituency and does another to please another constituency.

The member for Kennedy and I will be dividing the House. It is a great shame that the member for O’Connor will not be able to join us, because I am sure that, given his very clear enunciation of support for these amendments, he would have supported this amendment. This amendment will exempt from the legislation people who live in rural areas. It is very clear. If the Leader of the National Party can describe how that can be rorted, I would be very pleased to know because he did not do that in his five-minute speech. I encourage the government to reconsider, the minister to reconsider and the opposition, if they are serious about this legislation, to support the amendment.

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