Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have to start with an aside first, because two remarkable events have happened in the Senate this week: yesterday we had an apology from Senator McKim, and today I must wholeheartedly compliment Senator Whish-Wilson for his comments and questions earlier on. We've seen, as Senator Patrick, Senator Whish-Wilson and Senator Hanson have said, that there's no mention of administrative expenses in this proposal. We've seen no provision for the sharing of profits or losses between the shareholders. As I see it, the Senate's role is to be a reviewer, and that reviewer's role is to protect the taxpayer. Now we have a situation where the constitution of the body has not been determined as to how profits and losses would be shared and what arrangements they would be made under. We're committing taxpayer dollars with this bill without knowing any of the government's arrangements for that money, including funding the losses. So, Minister, how can we proceed with this when those arrangements are not made and we're just putting the taxpayer on the hook for this and there's no accountability?