Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to thank Senator Wong for referring to John Howard, who of course is truly a giant of Australian politics and a giant of the Liberal Party—and his government had many great policies. But every now and then there is a policy that, on reflection, we believe can be improved upon. The way this process works is that, particularly when you are in opposition, you spend a lot of time talking to a lot of people, reassessing why it is that you lost and thinking through how you can do things better the next time round. Obviously this is one of the areas where we identified a need for improvement, and we took not only the need for improvement but also a very specific policy proposal to the Australian people at the last election—one which we now seek to legislate.

I can reassure Senator Wong that I continue to be a great believer in free and open markets. I think being an open trading economy, exposed to the competitive pressures in the world, has been absolutely good for Australia's economic and our economic success, and I continue to hold that view. But I am also realistic enough to know that it is very important for us to maintain strong public confidence in foreign investment, which is important to maximise our future economic success. As such, there are improvements that can be made and should be made and which are the subject of this legislation. Senator Wong asked me whether we are proposing to renegotiate various free trade agreements. No, we are not. Finally, what was your last question in relation to something to do with the Greens?