Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I sent a note to Minister Albanese—copied to the minister, though unfortunately his staff have not drawn it to his attention—where I formally requested that the terms of the cognate debate be altered to accommodate a substantive debate on Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2011-2012. I would ask the minister, as he is the minister responsible, if I could get a response now on whether or not the government is prepared to alter the terms of the cognate debate. There is still an opportunity to accommodate a substantive debate.

Finally in that area, I would be grateful to know why the special circumstances clause has been removed. This clause was a major factor when the government asked the parliament to increase the debt ceiling from $75 billion to $200 billion. Now that the ceiling is rising to $250 billion the government no longer sees a requirement to provide any reasons why the debt should go above $200 billion without any explanation about special circumstances. Could you explain the special circumstances and also why that clause has been removed.

Finally, in the 2009 budget the government included an estimate of the revenue from the emissions trading scheme, and the associated costs, and it was included in the budget. I would put to you, Minister, that this time round the government is, in fact, at a more advanced stage and has the benefit of all the modelling that has taken place but has decided not to include the estimate. Could you please explain why you did include it in 2009 but not in this year's budget. (Time expired)

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