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

Senator Macdonald is right: the coalition—John Howard, in particular—did take his change of heart on the GST to the Australian people, which is the right thing to do. If there is a fundamental policy change, you ought to take it to the Australian people. Whether you like him or loathe him, John Howard did do the right thing and showed a lot of political courage in taking the GST issue to the people in the 1998 election. He nearly lost it but he scraped through, and you must admire the fact that he did go to the people in relation to that.