Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

There are your new friends! Get used to them. You will be cuddling up to them more and more often. This was a time for you to fight for your principles or fight for your seats, and you sold out your principles. You sold out your principles on a whole range of things that you have campaigned for and that we have campaigned for.

But what is worse than just selling out your principles is that you are putting in place a system that will probably lead, over time, to the Liberals having 38 senators permanently. Once Nick Xenophon retires—once the Xenophon party disintegrates after the departure of Nick Xenophon—the Liberals will regain their missing votes and become 38, and then not one policy, not one principle, that you believe in will ever again pass this chamber. You will have delivered that to those opposite. You are propping up the Liberal coalition government. You are giving them an opportunity to make their health cuts, education cuts and GST changes. All of that is what you are risking through this filthy deal just to make sure you can all keep your own bums on the seats in that corner. That is what has happened here. (Time expired)