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

And as Senator Williams interjects quite rightly, that was rubbish. The Senate committee investigating this was told that that was wrong. Time and time again I have invited the Leader of the Government in the Senate to explain to the Senate and the Australian people why he misled them and on whose advice he said it. Given that we have not had an answer now for over a week, we can only come to the conclusion that it was cheap, short-term politics to hector and force senators to vote for this package.

This package was so sacrosanct that it could not be amended or changed. In a dastardly deal with the Greens, they have now amended $500 million worth. So, instead of only having boom gates and pink batts, we are going to have a few other things as well. But at the end of the day there are no savings; it is still the same debt. What concerns me and many other Australians is: what other side deals done with the Greens did not find their way into the letter signed by the Treasurer? A lot of people fear especially for the timber industry in that regard.

I want to finish on this. The Australian Labor Party have said that this is urgent. They recalled the parliament for nine o’clock this morning. Our view is that, if Labor can strike a deal with Senator Xenophon and others—and we accept whatever the numbers might be; that will be the way the numbers fall—so be it. Good luck to them. But what we are going to go through here this morning is high farce and an indication of the shambolic management of this Senate by the Australian Labor Party, because from now on we will hear Labor speaker after Labor speaker after Labor speaker filibustering whilst Wayne Swan and Senator Xenophon are trying to cobble together a deal.