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

Let me be clear that I do not think that the legislation is perfect. I think it comes back to the rationale that the coalition has had for the establishment of a joint parliamentary committee, chaired by both sides of politics, to oversee the design and implementation of the scheme. It would have been good if such a committee had been set up quite some time ago. The opposition would have been very happy to work through a number of these design issues carefully. All I can say is that I think the need is still there for this committee to examine some of the sorts of issues that are being raised by colleagues, including Senator Xenophon. It would have been a good thing if that committee were already in place.

Question negatived.