Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition will not be supporting these amendments moved by the government, which have only been circulated in recent times, despite having been recommended over five months ago. These amendments should not need to be moved, because the promise should not have been broken in the first place. As coalition senators have noted, the legislation before the committee includes a very, very significant broken promise on behalf of the government. On multiple occasions before the election, the Prime Minister promised that there would be no changes to the rules around franking credits. These amendments change those rules and constitute a broken promise on behalf of the government. The opposition will not support the Prime Minister breaking an election promise that impacts retirees, mum-and-dad investors and small businesses.