Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Scarr. You've obviously thought deeply about the legislation, and I give you credit for doing that. Had the coalition decided that it was going to engage constructively in discussions about the legislation, I'm sure we would have happily engaged—as I did last week on the referendum machinery legislation, where I engaged constructively with the sensible members of your coalition—to try and get an outcome. You had the option, Senator Scarr, of doing that this time. I think if you'd been in control of these negotiations then we might have found that we had a positive contribution to this debate from the other side, but you've chosen not to do that. You've chosen to be an obstructionist, and, of course, that's meant that in order to get our legislation through we've had to go to discussions with the Greens, Senator David Pocock and other groups. Of course, the legislative scheme set up by the NRF bill provides that the investment mandate will be issued by the government, taking into account the views of the corporation board. The investment mandate—