Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I concede, Minister, that that gives you a generous period of time to get around to this. But is this the new standard that we're going to see for governance? You come in here, you do a deal with Senator Hanson to ram your bills through, and the price of that is an amendment of uncertain cost that you're willing to tick off on despite the fact you've got absolutely no idea about the consequence for the budget? This is the problem with the way you are dealing with superannuation. It is a toy. It is a thing for endless political games. It is the subject of deals which you're very reluctant to discuss, but you can't even do the basics.

What government would come in here and ask senators to support a proposition where you've got absolutely no idea of the fiscal impact? The superannuation system does actually have a pretty substantial impact on the budget. You won't see this side of politics wandering out there making propositions about super without thinking that question through. It astonishes me that you would come in here and give government support for something that was dreamt up by Senator Hanson, in her own interest, without even bothering to cost it. Will this be the standard you'll be setting for all of the other amendments that are before us today?