Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

It is still being written as we speak, as Senator Abetz points out. This legislation does deserve proper scrutiny. In my own portfolio of disabilities, just the concept—it is a good concept—of a national disability insurance scheme, which probably goes to a dollar figure of $3 billion to $5 billion, is being examined by the Productivity Commission, even before it has come into existence, just as a concept.

In my time here, I have never seen such a denial of scrutiny, such a denial of accountability. We had the farce last night of Senator Conroy on TV referring to the processes of this place, this chamber of which he is a member, as ‘arcane’. But there is nothing arcane about good old-fashioned scrutiny. There is nothing arcane about having sunlight, having the spotlight, put on government legislation. We heard a lot about Operation Sunlight, as colleagues would remember. It sounded like a North Korean concept, but we gave it the benefit of the doubt. This government was going to be better and do better than previous governments. They have failed, and we will not be supporting this motion. (Time expired)