Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

If you were a betting man, would you say ‘no’ to everything? The government has clearly not done its homework or its research. I think, in all fairness, that we might want to move to a vote on this particular amendment relatively soon. The problem is that what I would have thought was very basic information is simply not to hand. When we oppose this legislation we are accused of being economic vandals but, when we probe the background to this information, we find that there is no evidence available at all to support what the government is doing, other than that we know this is an inflationary measure designed to fight inflation. That is about the only answer that we have been able to get out of the government: they have introduced this to fight inflation and they accept that it is going to have a one-off inflationary effect. In response to any other question we ask, they simply do not have the information available. Can I just remind Senator Conroy and listeners—and I do not blame Senator Conroy personally, because this is the responsibility of Mr Swan and Mr Rudd—that this is what happens when you make policy on the run, rather than being concerned about the substantive issues of the day. This is what happens when you prefer spin over substance. When people start asking questions about the spin, they find that there is no substance. I suggest that we move to the vote.

Question put:

That the request (Senator Conroy’s) be agreed to.