John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Hopefully, he will get out of the drought stricken area in the new year sometime. Senator Joe Ludwig said:

What we have now, and it is not even near the end of the year, is the government trying to use its numbers—and probably successfully—to make us sit tonight. All it really demonstrates is that the government has been unable, unwilling and incapable of managing its own program.

That is what we are facing here in the brief time I have to make my contribution before my colleague Senator Macdonald speaks. This legislation is penny-pinching at its greatest. The government is desperate to bring in a budget surplus this financial year. That is why I say prepare for an election in August next year because there will be no way this government will stay after September, when Treasury will deliver the real figures for this financial year. As Senator Cormann said, we have some amendments and if the amendments are not successful, we will oppose this legislation.