Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I would say to Senator Day that former Prime Minister Rudd promised the world and delivered nothing. He promised to take over the world, he promised to take over hospitals and he promised to take over zoning laws. He is still working on taking over the world. Apparently he is somewhere in New York trying to take over the world, and I am sure that Senator Conroy is his numbers man on the United Nations Security Council in order to get him elected as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. 'Just because former Prime Minister Rudd promised something, you should not follow his lead,' is what I would say to Senator Day.

What I would say on the more general point is that this government is actually not about centralising more power in Canberra. This government wants to make the federation work better, which is why the Prime Minister has initiated the federation white paper review process, through which we will seek to make genuine improvements in the way our federation operates. I would like to think that we will be able to find a way to better address the issues that Senator Day cares about. (Time expired)