John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is true; that is the way the Howard government does business. It is all very well for the government to tout this bill and for us to hear ravings like we have just heard from Senator Ian Macdonald about it. This bill, after a partisan and contrived committee inquiry, is meant to provide a fig leaf to cover the Howard government’s complete lack of interest in and, indeed, contempt for the democratic rights of Australian citizens. The government is trying to make this a wedge. The Leader of the Opposition suggested plebiscites back in May this year, before these amalgamations. But the government is not fooling anyone. Its record of attacks on Australians’ ability to have their say by casting a vote at the ballot box cannot and will not be erased by a hasty, badly drafted, opportunistic bill like the one we are debating now.