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

I do. I have a very good record. Just look at the predictions I made about the fate of a few Liberal Party ministers. All of them came to pass. I do not make many predictions, but I am going to make another one; let's see if it comes true, Senator Macdonald. I predict that it is the opposition that will suffer most as a result of the decision it is taking in the parliament this week to oppose this bill. It is an absolutely inexplicable and wilful decision that the coalition is making—an attitude that is absolutely unable to be sustained or explained, an attitude and approach of not submitting costings to the PBO. I predict that in the next election campaign, just like in the last one, the opposition will inevitably face the charge that its election campaign policy costings lack credibility. That is what you are doing by taking this approach. Inevitably, the opposition's motivations in doing so will be questioned—and they should be, in my view. The opposition's approach to this bill means that this is a bad day for parliamentary integrity. The opposition's approach on this bill means that this is a bad day for integrity in politics.