Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw unreservedly.

Quite clearly this is Sussex Street comes to Canberra. This is Tammany Hall comes to Canberra. This is the kind of jackboot democracy we have come to expect from this Leader of the House and this government. We will be moving an amendment to this motion. Our amendment will be that, in paragraph 2, omit:

… two members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips, one Greens member …

and substitute 'three members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the opposition whip or whips'.

That amendment would much more accurately reflect the make-up of the parliament. It would reflect five members of the government, five members of the opposition and two crossbenchers—one Greens and one non-aligned member. That amendment would at least make an attempt to properly reflect the composition of both chambers, and certainly the opposition would regard that as the kind of amendment that should be supported by the crossbenches. Hopefully, the government would see the merits of a composition of this joint select committee that was made up of five members of the government, five members of the opposition, one Greens member and one non-aligned member. That is the amendment that I will be moving at the end of my contribution.

In terms of the precedence for this, it is patently transparent that no joint select committee has been put together in this place that so inaccurately reflects the make-up of the parliament. When the CPRS bills were investigated by the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, there were three members of the ALP, four members of the coalition and two independents in 2009. There have been other examples in recent times where there were much better reflections of the chamber. So I ask the crossbenchers and even the government to support that amendment to this motion.

But I reiterate: if the government were being honest about their carbon tax legislation, their plan for a carbon tax, their change of policy and their breach of faith with the Australian people, they would do what John Howard did. John Howard changed his mind about a goods and services tax, so John Howard announced the policy. He held an election. He won the election. He received a mandate for a goods and services tax. He introduced the legislation. There were inquiries which lasted months—120 days was the length of the inquiry under the goods and services tax. The legislation was then voted on and passed in both houses. That is the process of a Prime Minister who has authority. That is the process of a Prime Minister who has confidence in their own ability and their own argument. He was prepared to take the goods and services tax to the people and ask the people to determine whether they wanted it—and the people said yes. He received a mandate and he introduced a goods and services tax.

This government changes its mind in the dead of the night, decides to introduce a carbon tax, breaks a fundamental promise made to the Australian people before the election and then expects the opposition to support it. We will not. I move the following amendment:

(1) Paragraph 2, omit "two members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips, one Greens member", substitute "three members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips".

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