Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I will be as brief as I can. I will speak to the motion, but I just want to open with the final words of then Senator Nick Minchin to this parliament. I will remind honourable senators of what he said. He said:

I close with just one piece of gratuitous advice to all senators, and that is to remember the virtue of earning the respect of your colleagues on all sides of the chamber—earn their respect for your integrity, your decency, your passion, your commitment to your ideals and your willingness to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

That pretty much sums it up. This is no way to run a parliament. This is no way to run a country.

I actually happen to think that two of the three compromises are not too bad. The fact that we have kept the low-income superannuation support is good. The fact that there has been a compromise on the schoolkids bonus is a good thing. I do think, though, that it is extraordinary that we are throwing away and abandoning the issue of increases in compulsory superannuation for effectively seven years, as Senator Moore has said. It is outrageous.

Also, let's put this in perspective for all the new senators in this place. We get—and I am not criticising anyone for this—15 per cent super, our staff get 15 per cent super and public servants get 15 per cent super, but we are going to say to the rest of the country, 'You are going to be stuck on 9½ per cent.' That is wrong. I am not going to have a go at my crossbench colleagues for the deal that was done. No doubt they acted in good faith. But the trouble with stealth attacks is that they will be done to you eventually. This is not a good way of doing things.

My negotiating style—this is probably why I have not been able to negotiate with the government on this, and I am not criticising Senator Cormann—is that I will tell everybody on both sides what I am doing so there is no subterfuge and no secrecy. That is the way I would like to do it; it probably infuriates Senator Cormann. I am grateful that Senator Cormann did speak to me. We eventually spoke at about 12.27 pm today and I knew what was going on. I did get a heads up—only a little heads up, but I am grateful that I got that.

This sets a very bad precedent in this place. My plea to the crossbenchers who support this legislation and this package of measures is: let us at least have a couple of hours of debate. That is, at least, better than rushing it through. There are some important issues here in this bill as to the mechanics of it and how it will work. What we are doing is using the guillotine again. The other side did it, the opposition—they did it ruthlessly. I am not having a go at the Greens and the opposition but they did it too, ruthlessly, in the previous parliament. The other side is using the same technique.

This is bad for democracy. It is bad for our parliament and I would urge at least some decent level of debate. I do not know whether these questions will be answered. This sets a very bad precedent. Senator Nick Minchin—a great senator in this place and a good man—was absolutely right in his closing remarks. We should heed that.