Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

It is beneath contempt—a disgusting thing to do, an allegation you will never find in my parliamentary career that I've made against people opposite. For that to be alleged now is disgusting and beneath contempt. Remember question time yesterday, when your leader had the good sense to pull back when an allegation similar to that was made. Think about that, and deal with this bill on its merits, as we have. It has been said in the debate that we've just had: 'Why is it that this has come from the Senate in this particular form, in a way that hasn't been used for so many years since 1950 and has only been used two times previously?' The answer is this. The answer is the incompetence of the Manager of Opposition Business. If you read the standing orders of the Senate—

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