Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the matter of public importance introduced into this chamber today by Senator Lambie. At the end of the day, this is a very simple debate. This is about one thing, and that is allowing this bill to be debated in the House. That is all anyone is asking for. We are asking that people either put up or shut up, that they be prepared to defend their positions publicly, on the record.

I see my good friend Senator Canavan sitting opposite. Senator Canavan is an incredibly impressive man. Through one or two small negotiations with the government, he was able to get somewhere between $2 billion and $4 billion out of them. So I am urging Senator Canavan to use his new-found will, his new-found power, his new-found dominance of the Liberal Party to get this problem fixed. Frankly, all it is going to take is one phone call from Senator Canavan to get this problem fixed! So, if, by 5 pm today, this matter has not been resolved, we all know who we are going to hold responsible! We are going to be holding Senator Canavan responsible for this!