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

I think those listening to the debate will be appalled that that is the level of response we are getting from the opposition. We put a reasonable and balanced proposition, and it was scoffed at. We said we would sit as long as it took and allow as much scrutiny in the parliament—not in a committee but in the parliament—as was required to deal with those bills. We said we would sit Friday and Saturday to get those bills through so that we could meet the deadline to ensure those payments went out in March, as required. On the basis of our advice, the longer we wait the more risk there is to that. Senator Ludwig, the Minister for Human Services, will take you through what that means.

We put that in all fairness, we have been very open about it, and what we got was an opposition which said: ‘No, don’t worry about it. It can all wait. There’s no sense of urgency here. We can sit down; we can chat about it for weeks. There is no urgency.’ Well, those people getting redundancy notices have a different view. Those small businesses hanging on by the skin of their teeth have a different view. Those self-funded retirees who are waiting to see some certainty return to markets to protect their investments think it is urgent, think it is important and want the government to provide leadership. We would like the parliament to provide scrutiny but also allow the government to act—that is, allow the elected government to respond to a crisis. All we say is this. By all means have scrutiny, but do not delay to the point that you undermine the government’s capacity to act, undermine the government’s capacity to protect jobs—