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

I seek just to make a response to Senator Whish-Wilson's comments. Senator Whish-Wilson approached me this morning to discuss his amendments, especially on sheet 1134. I invited him into my office straightaway. We made arrangements. We spent a good deal of time listening to him, and there is some merit in some of the details in his amendments. We also then took a responsible position and invited the government to respond, and we asked them questions. We genuinely analysed and considered and reviewed both positions. In the end, we believe that the Greens amendments will add additional burdens that are not worthy of consideration because they will put an additional 26,000 businesses under enormous paperwork loads, and some retailers, small business people, are already burning the midnight oil. That will hurt small companies and hurt retailers. We also learned that there is a consultative process underway with the government involving state governments and other entities in this country. We will wait for that happen and let it happen properly, and then we'll assess that on its merits. We will let that consultative process continue.