Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting these amendments in the House of Representatives. We are happy to consider such a technical amendment—which I assume will be moved in the Senate and also considered there—in the Senate. But the difference between the amounts suggested by the honourable member for Goldstein and those in the bill are of no great significance. What is clear from the member for Goldstein’s comments is the bitterness that is there because of the return of the Rann Labor government in South Australia. The South Australian Labor government was returned with significant support across the board in marginal electorates in South Australia, and I look forward to working constructively with my colleagues in the South Australian Labor government.

The problem that the tories have is that they have a born-to-rule mentality: they do not accept the views of the majority of the people. The majority of people in South Australia returned Labor to government and did it in a majority of seats in the legislative assembly. The Liberals talked themselves up prior to that election, as they always do, because they think that they only have to get up in the morning to be able to sit on the government benches. They have not come to terms with the fact that they are in opposition here and they have not come to terms with the fact that they were defeated yet again in South Australia as well as in Tasmania on the same day.

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