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

The minister says, 'Read the amendments.' Well, we will when we get them, Minister. He is inviting the opposition, the Labor Party and presumably the Greens—I presume they have not been told about this either—to read the amendments. Well, I look forward to them being circulated, given the minister circulated them about four minutes ago.

Anyway, there was another lie, or falsehood—or perhaps misinformation might be correct—in what the minister put to the chamber when he said that the Senate was holding up the passage of the mining bill. The government got the mining repeal legislation through. What they did not like was the amendments protecting expenditures that are important to working people. They did not like the amended bill. That is what they are actually talking about, because they do not like democracy and they do not like to be questioned. Today, of all days, what we should remember is that Mr Abbott, on 5 August, told another lie:

There's a commitment that I want to give you … There will not be deals done with independents and minor parties under any political movement that I lead.

Well, what are we seeing today? We are seeing another dirty deal and a stealth attack on the Senate designed to ram through legislation by 1.40—it was rammed through the Lower House yesterday and has changes in it that have not been debated—just because this government wants a political win. (Time expired)