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

Minister, your disclosure then about some of the good work you're doing I totally acknowledge. The MAAL bill is a really good example of that. It kind of makes it even more important for you to explain why this anomaly exists, why you're allowing this grandfathering to continue. If you do believe in transparency and you do believe in tax justice—and I once again commend your government for the measures that you've brought before this place and the spirit of cooperation with which we've all worked on this together—it does seem very unusual and a significant anomaly that you would allow this exemption to remain in place. Of course, perceptions are everything in politics. You understand that as well as any of us here do. You need to provide an explanation as to why this grandfathering should remain in place.

If you can genuinely, hand on your heart, say that you've got a timetable for removing it and that you're going to provide a response to a report—that you've already responded to, by the way, and I'd ask you to go check on that—that's not credible in my eyes and I don't think it's credible in the public's eyes. If you promise us here in the chamber today that you're going to address this issue, then it may cause trouble for Senator Patrick. So perhaps it would be useful for you to consider that as an option—