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

Thank you very much, Senator Pocock. There is no need for surprise. Good ideas that are poorly legislated are in no-one's interest. That is the first point. The second point is that coalition senators absolutely support the characterisation of Senator Colbeck's contribution in the committee work that you and Senator O'Neill and others have done. The discussion here is on a committee stage of a bill, which, to be fair to the Australian Greens, they utilise with great effect to interrogate particular policy positions and particular legislative amendments. That is what I am doing here, because in the short exchange we have had we have found that there could be very high risk that your very good and noble idea is poorly legislated or, worse, is not given the priority of the further scrutiny process. So, Senator Pocock, in all fairness, what the coalition is doing here is scrutinising what could be a good and noble idea to make sure that, when translated into legislation, it does what you expect it to do. That is the first point. The second is that, if the government had been able to come to the chamber and say to Senator Smith, 'We have consulted with this group, this group and this group; these were the dates and these were the outcomes,' then there would be a much higher level of confidence. They have not been able to do that.

The scrutiny process that I am engaging in is necessary, is proper and is quite separate and distinct from what we all know, what we've all seen and what we're all equally outraged by, in regard to the work of the Senate references committee on the PwC scandal. This is quite a separate matter. I do not apologise for one moment if the coalition wants to satisfy itself that this has been properly and thoroughly consulted on, because, if it hasn't been and there are unintended consequences through the further scrutiny process, the government will have to come back here. The other thing, if I could say this—

I see Senator McKim mocking. Well, the Australian Greens have had a pretty poor track record when it comes to dealing with the government and the government honouring its commitments to the Australian people.

Senator McKim, you'd have to agree with me on that point. But that's not the substantive matter. We want to satisfy ourselves—and it's a very fair request—that this has been more than a deal. We want to make sure it's been thoroughly canvassed and properly scrutinised and enjoys the support of stakeholders beyond this chamber. Thus far, I've not been able to satisfy myself that that's the case.