Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed I will. I agree with the sentiments that many in this chamber have expressed in speaking on this bill. We do need to do all we possibly can to help children. We recognise that they are, after all, the future of our nation: our doctors, nurses, teachers, plumbers, electricians and, indeed, our generational successors in this place. But we should be delivering to those successors a system of government that is lean enough to function efficiently and effectively, one that understands and advocates that the state governments, too, have an important role to play by doing whatever is possible within the separation of powers and undertaking their responsibilities effectively. And we should not be unnecessarily duplicating these services. Unfortunately this bill does not satisfy the criteria and, accordingly, I endorse the decision of the coalition to oppose this bill.