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

Given Senator Cormann’s point of order, it may well be advisable for the President to review his statement but we will see how that develops later on. I have news for the minister about the so-called regional rorts that he referred to. The grants that I referred to, and which were announced by the member for Grayndler, his senior colleague, were in fact grants under the Australian government’s Textile, Clothing and Footwear Small Business Program. So much for his argument there: here we have small businesses having their grants disclosed publicly and exactly for what competitive purpose those grants were made.

I think I have been accused of treason, amongst other things, in this spray of hyperbole but as I said at the outset, this minister is well known for his hyperbole and his great difficulty in grasping the substance in any debate. He thinks rhetoric is somehow a substitute for facts in any debate. Mere repetition does not obviate the need for facts and detail in discussions of this nature. I set out at the very beginning that we support the automotive sector. We support the legislation before us. In fact, we have not even amended one of the bills and have allowed it through. The only thing that we seek is some added transparency.

I understand now what the minister is saying: he will be defying Senate order 14 of continuing effect that was passed over 12 months ago. We now have that on the record. He still has not fully detailed what advice will be provided; nor has he detailed to this place whether he told the automotive sector what a smart idea it would be and what the consequences would be of changing from a credit scheme to a grant scheme which would have these disclosure impacts. He was accusing me of supporting foreign companies and trying to put a dagger through the heart of the industry and all that sort of hyperbole. It is all great rhetoric, but did it answer the questions that I raised? Absolutely not.

If you were genuinely concerned about the future of this industry, you would engage in a sober, considered and mature debate on the actual points raised and not just use every opportunity that you could to get to your feet to have a spray at me personally—might I add, against standing orders, but so be it. Even if you are able to chop me off at the knees with all your personal attacks, you do not make yourself a bigger man and you do not do any favours for the industry and the sector. Underlining everything that the minister has said is this: any transparency that we are seeking, which is supported—bizarrely, if I might say so—by the Greens and Senator Xenophon—