Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I thank the Senate. The circumstances in which the Senate finds itself are quite clear. This legislation is about providing an extra strand or two to the safety net that is already there for Australian workers. There is a perception, right or wrong, that the safety net that has been provided thus far should be amended and strengthened. We are of the view that that should occur. Given that we are of the view that that should occur, we believe that the sooner it occurs the better for all Australian workers. So it is quite disingenuous of those who feign support for the Australian workers to then seek to delay the consideration of this legislation.

Why are we moving this amendment today? Very simply, if the motion does not go in today, we cannot refer the bill to a committee out of session. We would therefore have to move it on 12 June and then, with all the delays of advertising, hearings and a committee report, we would be a considerable distance further down the track, thus denying the protection those opposite demand be provided for the Australian workforce. When you take all that into account, you can understand why the government is eager for this to occur as expeditiously as possible.

We had a bizarre contribution from my friend from the Democrats suggesting that, on the one hand, the government was corrupt in advertising its proposed changes and then, in the next breath, saying that we were hiding our proposed changes from the Australian people. You cannot run those arguments in tandem. Either we are putting them out there for the Australian people or we are hiding them. You cannot really have it both ways. Of course, that is the great thing about the Australian Democrats. They always like to have it both ways. That is why they have fallen between the stools of Australian politics.