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

What is this government doing? Well, here we have another deal—another dirty deal that they tried to ram through the chamber just like we have seen before, showing as much contempt for this Senate as they show for the Australian people, as they break promise after promise after promise, and then tell people they are actually not breaking any promises. As I said, the minister on that side essentially read out a whole range of new policy positions in that introduction, which senators are supposed to absorb, debate and to consider. Presumably, perhaps, some of the crossbenchers might have that in writing. Those of us on this side of the chamber only had the benefit of the wisdom of the minister as he spoke. What is the Senate supposed to do? Apparently, what the Senate is supposed to do is say, 'We reckon we should make a change to superannuation in this legislation and we reckon Joe Hockey is doing such a great job that we will give him a bit more power. We will give him a bit more power to decide if we should dole out another superannuation guarantee increase.' What contempt for the Australian people.