Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Here he is now, the member for Eden-Monaro. I wonder if he has contemplated whether he will get an opportunity to speak on this bill and, if he has—and he obviously has, putting himself at five—has he spoken to the Leader of the House about his lost opportunity? I bet he has not. He knows he is safely ensconced at five. I notice that his colleagues on the other side have been taking all of their 15 minutes to speak. There is no arrangement—there could have been an arrangement. We have an arrangement on this side to only speak for 10 minutes. Why? We want all of our members, particularly those from rural and regional Australia, to have an opportunity to defend their constituents. That is why we are going for 10 minutes; but over that side it is 15 minutes.

I bet they had instruction from the Chief Government Whip—and, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, I have been a Chief Government Whip. I know how these things work. The Chief Government Whip would have said, 'Make sure you go your 15 minutes because, if you don't, the member for Eden-Monaro might have to speak, and that's the last thing we want. It's a no-win situation for us. If the member for Eden-Monaro goes in and defends this tax—this broken promise—he will be in trouble in his electorate. If he goes in there and attacks this tax for what it is, that's going to cause us problems on this side of the House. So make sure you go your 15 minutes. Don't let the member for Eden-Monaro or anyone who follows him on the list speak, because that would be a very bad outcome for them and a very bad outcome for the government.' So here we have this little plot. Maybe we could go a bit short, I ask the member for Grayndler. That might get the member for Eden-Monaro on the list. There is a strategy the Labor Party could contemplate.

Mr Taylor interjecting—

I will take the member for Hume's invitation to sit down even earlier if I can and give the member for Eden-Monaro the maximum opportunity. Maybe the member for Paterson will walk in here in the next couple of moments and suggest the speaking list be changed to give him an opportunity to defend this broken promise and this unfair tax.

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