Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This Treasury Laws Amendment (Working Holiday Maker Employer Register) Bill 2017 is bizarre; it's completely bizarre and completely reflective of a government that doesn't know what it's doing. We thought the backpacker tax fiasco was dead, buried and cremated, but here we have it rising from the ashes again today in the form of a most unusual backflip by the government, seemingly for Senator Leyonhjelm's benefit, and we can only wonder at what kind of deals have been done behind closed doors.

Through this bill, the government is bringing forward legislation to repeal its own legislation, which is less than two years old, to honour a deal that they didn't end up doing. I will repeat that again: through this bill, this government is bringing forward legislation to repeal its own legislation, which is less than two years old, to honour a deal they didn't do.