Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I take that point. It is very important that we should suspend standing orders so that the people of Australia might understand exactly what this government is doing. The three wise men of the Labor Party have woken up to the fact that the government has been hijacked by the Greens. That is why they were in the Prime Minister’s office yesterday at 10.30 demanding that she change her position.

What have we got here? This is why it is so important to suspend standing orders. We have got yet another big new tax on top of the mining tax and on top of the flood tax. This is the third new tax that this government wants to introduce this year. We have got a government that has no mandate whatsoever. In fact, if anything, it has a mandate not to introduce a carbon tax. Now we have deliberate disruption from members opposite.

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