Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers given by Senator Wong to questions asked by me and by my esteemed colleague Senator Cormann. May I begin by saying that I am surprised that we on this side are being accused of having a conscience. This is new for the Labor Party: they accuse us of having a conscience! I will approach this debate in that spirit.

I think the answers in question time today displayed that yet again Labor is failing to stand up for the principles which they laid down from 2007 onwards in terms of the standards they would apply on various issues. We were told in 2007 that there would be a new regime of accountability around a whole slew of important issues: grants—which I will come to in a moment—government-funded advertising, FOI, election funding, governance of public organisations and statutory authorities. On all of these issues we were told it was a new dawn. The tawdry Howard regime was gone—