Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

And we get the silly interjection from Senator Conroy: 'Because your policy stinks.' It sounds as though he is in the schoolyard still. But if these senators actually believe our policy—to quote the intellectual, Conroy—'stinks', they thought it smelt okay in July of this year, they thought it smelt okay in October of this year and they actually, positively voted for these regulations. Are they saying they did not have the intellectual aptitude? Are they saying that they did not understand what they were voting for? What are they saying in relation to this matter?

I think the people of Australia are entitled to a full explanation and one would have thought that, if there is to be an ongoing relationship, and I am sure there will be a good ongoing relationship, if you want to do business, the way to do it would be to approach the government and say, 'You know those regulations I voted for? I have a bit of a concern about some aspects of those regulations.' That would have been the right way to go about it. That is the right way that a mature legislator would go about these matters, rather than running under the umbrella of the Australian Labor Party and being swept along in an exercise which is only designed to support the trade union movement super funds against the small businessmen and women out in the Australian community who provide exceptionally good financial advice to literally hundreds of thousands of people.

I have no doubt that the senators who sometimes come in here saying they have received wonderful emails on certain issues will, chances are, not tell us about the messages of concern they may have received about a potential vote on this issue. And because I am sure these two senators in particular are open-minded and are willing to listen, I simply say to them, 'What's the urgency to do this today? Why not open yourself up to the financial practitioners in your state, the small businessmen and women, and allow them to explain the consequences of your potential vote in this space?'