Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have one word to sum up the Turnbull government's 2017-18 budget, and that word is 'pragmatic'. This is a budget that is aimed at this chamber—aimed at the Senate, especially the crossbench. They have finally buried the 2014 Abbott-Hockey horror budget, and their so-called zombie bills—although cynics know that zombies have a habit of rising again from the grave, like the horror movie. We should have seen this coming when financial minister Cormann repeatedly said: 'Park, park,' to controversial segments when negotiating passage of the recent omnibus bill. It is more proof that, in this 45th Parliament, Senator Cormann and Prime Minister Turnbull are real pragmatists. And that is good. It is not the Abbott-Credlin 'my way or the highway'—that approach to the crossbenchers. This is not wasting-your-time, ideological, play-to-your-base material. These are bills that seem genuine, practical and, in the case of Gonski mark II, fair and justifiable. I have heard so many commentators, including the Greens leader and Labor MPs, describing this at times as a Labor budget or a Labor-lite budget. So I guess I should now presume that the opposition will be voting for all of it.