Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Well, 281 is bigger than zero, Senator Dastyari. If you think this amendment is meaningless, I think the fact that Senator Bernardi has already said that he will be crossing the floor and voting with the Labor Party tells you everything you need to know. The fact that Senator Bernardi came into this chamber a little earlier, stood up and said that he cannot in good faith support an amendment that means that 281 private companies now need to disclose their tax affairs tells you everything you need to know. So you will now have Senator Bernardi joining the Labor Party in shielding the tax affairs of 281 companies. How does it feel? How does it feel to be sitting on the benches next to Senator Bernardi, saying: 'We want to shield 281 companies from disclosing how much tax they pay'? There is a lot more that I could say, but we have ventilated all of the arguments. I think the most telling one is that, when you have the Labor Party and Senator Bernardi together, you do not need to say anything else.