Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Can I just add one quick point as well? A few days ago, the Greens flagged their intention to move these amendments, and I want to put on the record that our spokesperson on these matters, the member for Kingsford Smith, Mr Thistlethwaite, wrote to the Greens, indicating that we thought that the extension of this pool to the flood areas was an idea worth considering. He wrote to the Greens, expressing that and asking them to advise us what the cost of such an amendment would be: What would be the cost to taxpayers? What would be the cost to insurance policyholders? You'll be shocked to know, Madam Chair, that the response from the Greens was: 'There won't be any cost.' Of course, that's Greens economics for you: you can do things, and they don't cost any money.

As Senator McAllister has indicated and as I indicated in my second reading contribution, we do think that it is worth considering extending the reinsurance pool to areas that suffer from floods, but I think that, if we're going to do that, we should have some idea of what it's going to cost. It's not surprising that the Greens don't think that's worth considering. We think the responsible way to proceed is to support the reinsurance pool as it is currently proposed and to consider this possible extension as part of the statutory review, when we can understand what the cost would be to the taxpayer and to insurance policyholders. I think it's very important that people understand why Labor has taken the position that it has.

I might just very quickly also note that it's disappointing that the second reading amendment that I moved was defeated by One Nation and the government. That amendment simply asked the government to come clean and release the modelling which they claim shows how much North Queenslanders will save as a result of the reinsurance pool. I asked Senator Hume to release this information at estimates, and amazingly she told the estimates hearing that it was not in the public interest for North Queenslanders to see the modelling that the government say they have about the savings that people will receive. That's why we moved the amendment, to try to get the government to release the modelling.

The government have been making all sorts of claims in the media about how much people will save, but they refuse to release the proof that they say they have. I have to say that I'm extremely disappointed that One Nation voted with them to stop that information being released. As I have mentioned many, many times in this chamber, One Nation love to run around North Queensland pretending they're on the side of battlers in North Queensland. What they've done here today is vote with their allies in the Liberal-National coalition to stop North Queenslanders being able to see how much they will actually save from this reinsurance pool. One Nation is now in on this with the government in saying that North Queenslanders can't be trusted to see the information that the government say they have about what people will save. That is very disappointing, but it is true to form, because we know, at the end of the day, that One Nation is just another arm of the LNP. And they've rolled over and backed their LNP mates once more.