Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) | Hansard source

He's misleading the Senate, President! Let me tell you this. The details of this dirty, dodgy, dastardly deal between Labor and the Greens will remain a secret forever until the Archives Act, of course, enables the details of cabinet meetings to be released for Australians to see exactly what has gone down here. Long before then, they will be paying the bill. This is the problem.

A government senator: We're going to miss you, Jonno.

I've attracted an audience, President! All I want to say is that the Senate should be able to do its job. We should be able to interrogate this legislation. The appropriations bills—budget bills—that are constructed by government are amended in secret, in some smoke filled party room down the end of the corridor with sumptuous leather chairs, in partnership with the Greens. We will never, ever know what was hatched up here. It's a bit like those tax bills that we had rammed through this parliament not so long ago; as further scrutiny went on, more and more problems were unearthed. Heaven knows, in a set of bills where $213 billion is being shovelled out the door, what problems are going to be in them. I say shame on this government, and I hope they support the capacity for us to have further debate on these very important pieces of legislation.