Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

For the nation, as Senator Reynolds says. No one's better off. The cost of living is going through the roof. People feel less secure. And here we are, to get a win before the end of the year, doing deals with the Greens political party on things that were not contemplated at any point through the deliberations in the committee process.

We're seeking to suspend standing orders to be able to bring on these extraneous amendments relating to another act, which were referred to in a nebulous fashion yesterday, and we don't know what the extent of the consequences is going to be. But do you know what? I suspect the government have got the numbers. They've done a deal. We still don't know what price has been paid for these amendments to be supported by the government—this expanded water trigger that is going to have massive impacts—or whether any modelling has been done on the costs to people who may wish to get a project up, to create jobs, to provide energy to the market. We don't know. Has there been a regulatory impact statement, which is something good governments normally do? I'd be interested to know, to foreshadow that question. I'm sure Senator McDonald has similar questions as well. Again, I'll take a punt on that: I don't reckon any of this has been done, because it is the last week of the year, ladies and gentlemen, and it's all about getting a deal. It's all about getting a win. It's all about looking like we're in control and we know what we're doing.

Not only are the impacts of these amendments unknown and we've barely had an hour to read through the documents that have been dropped on our desks but, in fact, we don't know about a range of amendments that the minister has already said the government have agreed to and what impact they will have. We will consider our position on all of them, but, at the end of the day, I'd just say that this year ends as it has been all the way throughout—that is, shambolic. This is a government that lurches from one problem to the next and does dodgy deals to try and look like it's in control. This is not the bill they had on the table all the way through the committee process. They have cut off scrutiny because they are embarrassed about where they're going. It's all about getting a win. They don't care about the Australian people, and these amendments just prove that.