Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to follow that fevered contribution from Senator Polley with something a little more measured and relevant to the bill. I have to say, with great respect, that a great deal of what Senator Polley had to say in that contribution did not relate to what appears in the bill I have in front of me, the Higher Education Support Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2012. Extolling the various reforms the government is enacting with respect to funding of universities is a fine piece of debating rhetoric but unfortunately does not relate to what is in front of us at the moment. In fact, what is in front of us at the moment is the government correcting what I think is best described as a mistake or an oversight in the legislation that was passed only—