Mr HOLDING(12.01 a.m) —The issues here are simple. First of all, no one on the government side can seriously contest that you do not need legislation to go ahead tomorrow, next week or whenever the government chooses to build the Hindmarsh Island Bridge. That is the first fact. The second fact is that if one looks at the history of this issue, I think it would be a fairly long shot for anybody to issue a further legal challenge. The next point is why bring in legislation that you do not need and then try to exclude a piece of very important legislation which the Senate has said quite clearly should not be the subject of reference, in respect of a bill that you do not need, to exclude what is, in my view, legally, a very long shot?

This legislation is unnecessary. If you want to build the bridge, go ahead and build it. But my colleague the member for Lalor (Mr Barry Jones) has just pointed out that the Senate has made its position clear, and I support that position. I do not believe that the Racial Discrimination Act, an act of this parliament, can be turned on and off like a tap because somebody on the other side, or the Minister for Defence (Mr McLachlan), as a result of the history of this, has got some hurt feelings and says, `In order to prove I was always right, anyway, what we have to do is amend a piece of this parliament's legislation,' even though the Senate has said you will not do this thing.

If you want to go ahead and build the bridge, for God's sake do it, but do not interfere with the legislation of this parliament, which is the important legislation, which is under a lot of attack at the moment, particularly by some leaders on the other side who ought to know better. While talking about the fact that they do not believe in any form of racial discrimination, they attack this legislation on almost a daily basis and misinterpret with great deliberation the judgments of the High Court in the Wik case. We have had enough of that. Therefore, I say, if you want to build the bridge, go ahead and do it, but leave the Racial Discrimination Act alone. I adopt the arguments of my colleague, the member for Lalor: the Senate has made its position clear and the Senate is right. If you want to build the bridge, get ahead and do it.