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

You asked me to name them. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference made very strongly worded submissions to the draft round of consultations. They are still not happy, even with the amendments the government has made, because they take exception to the assumption that somehow they are trying to do someone in, to do someone down, just because they are charities, parishes, school foundations or school trusts.

The coalition will campaign on this issue right through to election day, whenever that might be, whether it is in October or November, whether it is in February or March next year or whether the government is even prepared to hand down one more budget.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

Hand down one more budget, Rumpole, and we will see that you have a $25 billion deficit and no surplus at all. I will take money on the government not handing down another budget in this place and having to face the wrath of the people for the things they have told the Australian public that they know are not true.

Behind me there is a plethora of speakers who want to stand up on this issue and stand up for their charities, their parishes, their trusts and their foundations in government and non-government schools and to support parents who put money into these organisations from their after-tax income. They do not want to see that money being spent on more regulation, more government control, more form filling, more red tape and more green tape. They want their hard earned after-tax dollars to be spent on looking after the children, the disadvantaged and the underprivileged who are served by all of these charities and parishes. I urge the House to reject these amendments and reject this legislation. (Time expired)

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