Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I was not going to speak again in this debate, but faced with blatant fabrications by Senator Di Natale I am forced to stand up and correct the record, so Hansard will show that Senator Di Natale has serially misled the chamber, because he is doing the filthy deal he did with the government to water down Senator Xenophon's amendments which he voted for a few weeks ago. Senator Di Natale is not strengthening a government bill; he is watering down amendments moved by Senator Xenophon that he supported two or three weeks ago. To stand in this chamber and try and pretend that he is delivering a stronger position than is already in this bill is a total fabrication, and you will and should be exposed for trying to perpetrate that untruth on this chamber. We will not let you pretend that you are not voting against amendments that you supported previously that are tougher than what you caved in and rolled over to the government for. That is the truth. You know it. Everybody else in this chamber knows it. Senator Cormann knows it. You have rolled over and you are weakening a bill before this chamber because of your filthy, slimy deal with the government. You are going to need a long hot shower tonight after your performance, because you are trying to pretend that you are toughening up a bill, when you are weakening a bill. You deserve to be exposed for it, Senator Di Natale.