Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the outset, I really want to convey my regard for the work that Senator David Pocock, Senator Lambie and Senator McKim have done with respect to this matter. This is good stuff. This is what we're meant to be here for. It's a really positive note to end what has been a lengthy day of proceedings.

I'll just make two other quick points. First, for goodness sake, Government! If you are going to do something like this, introduce a regulation like this, don't insult our intelligence. The most flimsy arguments were put up by the government to support this regulation. I can tell you, as someone who served as a company secretary of an ASX company for 12 years, the argument about the cost of compliance imposed on multi-billion dollar organisations that have actual obligations to keep accounts and records was one of the flimsiest arguments I've seen put forward to defeat the principle of transparency. The members have a right to know where their money is going. The members have a right to know where their money is going because, after all, it is their money. So one dearly hopes that a lesson has been learned from this debacle from the government's perspective and we won't see a repeat.

The only other point I want to make is once again to put on the record, as I've previously done in this place, that when Senator McKim came into this place and said he believed, in his view, a deal had been done, I took that at face value. Hopefully those in government might reflect on the results of what has unfolded from what can only be described as a debacle, to be frank. It is a shame it's taken this long to get to this stage, but it's good we got here. Congratulations, Senator Lambie, Senator Pocock and Senator McKim. This is a good result. This is good stuff.