Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

A levy which was the subject of an enormous amount of chest-beating on that side and went through this chamber very quietly with the opposition opposing, but not too loudly. What an extraordinary thing! This is a budget which is about bringing the budget back into the black, a budget that is about jobs, jobs, jobs—creating jobs, training people for jobs and getting more people into jobs—and the best they can come with is: 'We don't like a levy to help rebuild Queensland. 'That is the best they can come up with! It is amazing, isn't it? This is an opposition which in government was happy to have a levy to help the sugar industry and happy to have a levy to buy back guns, but they are still fighting an argument on a levy to help rebuild Queensland and other areas of Australia that were hit by a natural disaster. But the most interesting thing is this—

Honourable senators interjecting—