Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We will not oppose these amendments. These amendments represent a backdown from the government after the Treasurer sought to vilify me for having the matter referred to a committee and after he tried to spin to a journalist that we were, in fact, delaying the bill. Our concern was that the bill was starting too early. In fact, the government now recognises that with amendment (1). So I would say to you, Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas: that is the form of this government—it delivers a piece of legislation and consults afterwards, not before, and it seeks to ridicule and vilify any critic and then, when it realises the critic has actually got a fair point, it claims to be engaging actively with the community. So I would say to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that it does not surprise me that the Assistant Treasurer is in here doing the heavy lifting because the Treasurer himself has not got the courage to do it.

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