Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

In dealing with item (1) on sheet 1197, you cannot split these apart. If Senator Patrick wants to stand up for these players that he's concerned about, why not include all of them? Why not say, 'not just a significant number, but all players'? That is what takes us back to this complete circular logic—when the original version of the bill said, 'You've got to treat everyone the same and you can have no preferential treatment.' You can't just find the balance of that in the middle of these negotiations with the words that Senator Patrick is seeking to put into the legislation. So it is incumbent on this place to consider these issues properly and in the context of the negotiations that are already underway. It is ridiculous to me that inserting words like 'significant' versus 'substantial' will make any assessment of the kinds of difference they should make in the long-term credibility of this regime. It is impossible to make an assessment of what that looks like, particularly in the context of the negotiations that are already underway.