Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(1) requires the Assistant Treasurer (Senator Sinodinos) to immediately attend the Chamber to provide the Senate with a full explanation of his dealings as a director of Australian Water Holdings, with particular reference to political donations, his shareholdings and his role in contract negotiations negotiations and his statement made in the Senate on 28 February 2013 and reaffirmed during question time on 6 March 2014;

(2) at the conclusion of the statement a senator may move to take note of the explanation; and

(3) if no statement has been made by Senator Sinodinos before 12 noon today, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Senator Wong) may immediately move a further motion relating to Senator Sinodinos' failure to comply.

We have heard a significant amount of hyperbole in the contributions of those opposite. I think it is useful if we go through what is being sought by the Senate and by the opposition.