Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party finds itself in agreement with the sentiments and the motivation expressed by the honourable members for Kennedy and Calare. We do, however, have a different way of dealing with the problem. We agree that the absence of buyers’ agents in the code is not only a deficiency; it is a breach of faith. It is not a promise kept; it is a non-core code. It is a code—which the honourable members who have spoken before me have also indicated—the government was dragged kicking and screaming into implementing. It is a code that the government promised would be mandatory and then it tried to squib on it. The government tried to introduce a voluntary code and then it was forced, kicking and screaming, into bringing in the code that we have now.

The minister arrogantly says that anybody who disagrees with him either has not read the code or does not understand it. I know that the honourable member for Lyons and the members who have spoken before me have not only read it but also understand it. They understand the difficulty that it causes for their constituents.

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