Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question. I thought the interjection by Senator Wong, pointing to the fact that Senator Minchin was not consulted about a $10 billion program while finance minister, was a perfect response to the question. This is a decision of government. We take full responsibility for the decision. It is a decision of government that is the first instalment out of the $500 million green car fund—which, funnily enough, we took to the election and we delivered on, as distinct from your performance in government. The Australian public are noticing the difference. We committed to something and we delivered on it. We said we would have a $500 million green car fund and—guess what—we have. What have we done? Shock, horror: we have made the first instalment on that. We are actually delivering on our election commitments—and, if you pass the budget bills, we will deliver on them all, because we will be able to. So the weight will be on you in the next couple of days. We have all these things that you are opposed to, but you are going to have to put your hands up. If you are fiscally responsible, we will see you support the government’s budget. We are delivering on our budget commitments and our election commitments. We said we would have a $500 million Green Car Innovation Fund, and we have got it. The government has said that the first—