John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

You say that it is not right by interjection, Senator Minchin, not from your seat. If you say that it is not right, you name a more significant issue where a senator or party has asked for a recommittal.

We all know the measure that the second reading vote related to—the Tax Laws Amendment (Luxury Car Tax) Bill 2008. And we all know what that measure did, which of course was to increase the luxury car tax rate from 25 per cent to 33 per cent to apply on and from this year. And we all know the impact on the budget here of $555 million. That is the hole that the opposition is blowing in the government’s budget, and they cannot even get their own senators into the chamber to vote on the matter. That is unprecedented. That is serious. How seriously do you think the Australian people should take an opposition that argues a case on an issue like this but cannot even exert the internal discipline to get its own senators into the chamber to vote on this sort of matter?

I believe that what the Senate faces here is something that is, effectively, unique in its history. At the end of the day I expect that there will be more goodwill around the chamber from those who have supported the bill than from those who have opposed it. There will be more consistency in approach. But this matter does warrant a more responsible, reasonable approach than the one we have heard from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I argue very seriously to the Leader of the Opposition and to opposition senators, through the chair, that what will be called for here is the usual explanation from the senator concerned. By the way, I want to say through you, Mr President, that I do not know who the senator is; I have no idea.