Creamy said:
I’ve been asked what my solution is. I’ve said it frequently: Elect independents. Australia needs lots, lots more like Nick Xenophon, so that the Federal government once again takes responsibility for governing.
And there in lies the major problem with the current Labor/Green alliance government…they maybe proud of the huge volume of legislation passed through Parliament but have they afforded most of these passed bills proper parliamentary ‘due process’? Not according to Senator X they haven’t (Senate Hansard 28/06):
Senator XENOPHON (South Australia) (11:47): I say this more in sorrow than in anger, but—yet again—we have another bill that is going to be rammed through without adequate scrutiny. We had amendments last night to the Fair Work legislation, which one of the architects of the Fair Work legislation—Professor Andrew Stewart, from the University of Adelaide—expressed serious concerns about. There was no committee stage for that bill. There was no appropriate scrutiny. Who knows what chaos will ensue from the provisions of that bill for both employees and employers alike around the country?
Here we have a bill that is being rammed through. My contribution will be less than five minutes, because we only have another 11 minutes for the entire debate, to allow other senators to contribute. What has happened here this week is a disgrace. It is absolutely appalling that the house of review has been reduced to a rubber stamp. We have a situation where we cannot have any amendments being passed by this place, because—if we do—the House of Representatives has got up for the winter session.
Senator Cormann interjecting—
Hmm..the rubber stamp comment sounds oh so familiar
…but then Sen X continues to vent his spleen
:
Senator XENOPHON: Senator Cormann says that we should. I take that interjection, because we should. We are meant to be a house of review. We will not have any committee stage to go through these issues. What beggars belief and what I cannot get my head around is that my colleagues the Australian Greens—who I have had a good and respectful working relationship with for a number of years now—have voted for this. I do not get it. I just do not get why they have gone down this path. It completely contradicts what Senator Bob Brown said back in 2005, during the Howard government, when they used the guillotine. But the Howard government, when they used the guillotine, were amateurs compared to what we have seen right here this week. This is disgusting. It is nothing short of disgusting….
….. But I say again: for goodness sake, let's never, ever do this again. Let's never, ever see a situation where 55 bills have been rammed through and where decent scrutiny has been completely abrogated. It has made a travesty of the parliamentary process. This is appalling. Every Australian should be concerned about this. If I am ever in a position where my vote would count on this—if I am re-elected in a few weeks time; if the people of South Australia entrust me with being in the Senate again—I tell both sides and my friends on the crossbenches that I will never be party to something like this ever again. What we have seen this week is completely and utterly disgusting….
This speech was also tag teamed yet again by the good Senator Fawcett:
Senator FAWCETT (South Australia) (11:53): I, too, rise to speak to these tax bills. As Senator Xenophon has very clearly articulated, the people of Australia should be deeply concerned by the process, the substance and the promise of what these bills mean for Australia. Senator Xenophon and my colleagues have highlighted the process. We have seen, this week, 55 bills rammed through by the Greens-Labor alliance. In the whole three years when the Howard government controlled the Senate there were 32. In the time that the Greens-Labor alliance has controlled this place there have been well over 200.
For those who are listening to this broadcast, the consequence of this process being applied is that due diligence is not performed.
The committee stage, which is the stage where—unlike in second reading debates both in the House and here—senators can go through legislation line by line and question the minister time and again to expose unintended consequences, is absent. So this house of review, which is meant to ensure states' rights and to make sure that legislation has due diligence applied, has been cut out of the process by this government in its dying days. The substance of the bills is broad, and it should be deeply concerning to people that there is no due diligence being applied.
Looking at schedule 1 of the Tax Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No. 2) Bill, which appears to be a minor issue in terms of the monthly PAYG instalments, that was not introduced for any good policy reason. That was not introduced to try and support small business or make things more effective. That was introduced because the government hoped to claw back money over the forward estimates in their failed attempt to deliver a budget surplus. So pure politics drove that. Pure politics has made life harder for small business. Small business is what generates jobs in this country.
We have seen that approach by the government—driven by short-term, poll-driven politics—not only result in them changing prime ministers twice but impact on small business, jobs and things like defence. We have seen exactly the same approach in the Department of Defence at estimates. The department have admitted on the public record that the government's drive for a budget surplus has caused them to make decisions that are not in the national interest.
This is not a government that can be trusted for Australia's future, either for our children in terms of jobs, for the economy, for national security or even for things like the incentives—things that theoretically should be good. Here one of the schedules is 'Incentives for designated infrastructure projects' to try and encourage private investment. In principle that sounds like a good thing, but the coalition has concerns about the extent of the discretion that is being given to the coordinator of infrastructure. We only have to look at the 'Bob Brown memorial trust' that was set up by this government—where they make arbitrary, ideological decisions as to where taxpayers' money will be allocated as opposed to scientifically based decisions with a good business case—for us to say, 'We have concerns.'
But the process that has been adopted by this Labor-Green alliance has cut out the opportunity for us to take the government to task on this line by line and to move amendments, as Senator Xenophon has highlighted. The fact that they are putting this through on the very last day of the sitting of this parliament, when the House of Representatives have already risen and gone, means that, even if we were given the opportunity to do due diligence and have a committee stage, there would be no point because no amendments would get up. So the Australian public will have to wear more wasted taxpayers' money, more bureaucracy and more things that will threaten equity and fairness in this nation.
We are coming into a period where the Australian people need to make a choice. There are lots of other measures here I could talk about in the bills, but in the one minute and 50 seconds I have remaining to talk about this it is important to talk about the impact of taxation. Taxation is about the government saying, 'We need a revenue base and we need to have spending for the public,' and we all understand that. But the thing that the public must choose when they choose a future government is who will spend that money wisely. They only have to look back over the last two groups of governments to understand the choice they have.
Going back to the Howard government, in 2007-08 there was a $19.8 billion surplus. In this year's budget there is an $18 billion deficit. Under the Howard government, in 2007-08 there was $44.8 billion in the bank. That is savings. That is what we teach our children to try to do. Under this government, there is $178 billion in debt, and they are on their way to $340 billion of national debt. Under the Howard government the banks and others were paying us interest—$1 billion a year in earnings. Under this government, there is $7.8 billion in interest payments alone. Imagine what that could do for building infrastructure, for giving incentives for jobs, for building a future for our children. When the people of Australia decide on the next government, remember these figures because they are the true indication of who you can trust with Australia's economy; who you can trust to set fair, equitable and effective tax rules; but, most importantly, who you can trust to be the adults who will spend your hard-earned taxpayer dollars wisely and effectively. (Time expired)
{Note: I know..I know Creamy you’ll say that speech was..“purely politically driven”…}
OK so much for proper governance from the former Gillard government how much better or worse an Abbott led government would be remains to be seen but at least they won’t be beholden to the Greens…
Here’s a thought..perhaps a good litmus test for the new 44th Parliament in the Senate would be allowing proper ‘due process’ and scrutiny of the CAO 48.0 instrument? It seems to have perked enough interest from more than the usual crowd of aviation safety concerned Senators….
ps 601 well perhaps FF should have got it right in the first place...embuggerance indeed!