Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I laugh because you are so predictable in your desire, if you cannot win the argument, to simply vilify the opponent. That is your simple approach and in this case you choose to do it against a newspaper. The questions have been asked. You shake your head, but it is not unreasonable for the questions to be asked, because these amendments were provided yesterday. The explanatory memorandum that is quoted in that newspaper story was released just yesterday. It is not unreasonable for people to be trying to digest what that means. If we had a couple of days’ breathing space to work it out and to ensure that we had confidence in knowing what it means, the Senate could come back and debate it with full confidence, confidence that your shake of the head, your assurances that people in the seven per cent will not be worse off, are actually to be taken—