Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the point about the unreasonably short time frame imposed by the government on the Senate inquiry, for heaven’s sake! For how many years have we been talking about this? The member for Chifley knows when he first became involved in this issue. He knows, having seen the bill, what a great step forward it is; what a landmark step forward it is. He knows that he will support it and that the government will support it, because it is in the interests of people in the Child Support Agency area.

In relation to the final point in the amendment, ‘the overly complex nature of the changes in the bill’, I suppose the next thing you are going to complain about in the next set of amendments is that it is 31 degrees in Canberra today. That is the sort of rubbish that we are seeing in these types of amendments. It is just ridiculous.

The previous speaker whinged about some parents being worse off. Yes, they are. But she failed to understand what this bill is all about. The central piece of this bill is about fairness. Having had such a lengthy inquiry and report and a long response time for the report, I find it amazing to see the Labor Party rejecting fairness as the central tenet of this bill. It is absolutely amazing. Because the bill is so complex, I cannot cover everything that is contained in it.

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