Mr RONALDSON (1:39 PM) —Members of the House may not be aware of the way in which the speakers lists operate in this place. The Chief Opposition Whip and I, along with our staff, swap the names of those who are going to be speaking on the bill so that we know roughly what the program is going to be. Mr Deputy Speaker, it may be of interest to you and the House—I am sure it will be of interest to one person in particular, whom I am just about to mention—that when that list came across to the Chief Government Whip's office yesterday, outlining who was going to speak on the bill, guess whose name was not there?

Mr Fitzgibbon —Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order. The Chief Government Whip should be required to authenticate that document. We grant him leave to table it.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —There is no point of order. I call on the Chief Government Whip to address his remarks to the question before the chair, which is that the amendments be agreed to.

Mr RONALDSON —What a scurrilous point of order from the shadow minister for small business. Indeed, his name was not on the list of speakers who were originally going to speak on this matter. Guess what happened this morning? All of a sudden we had a new list, and guess whose name was on that list? The shadow minister for small business. This is the man who expressed anger and outrage that he was not allowed to speak in the second reading debate. He was so concerned about the matter, he did not even put his name down originally to speak on the bill. So I think that that is probably a fair indication of where the ALP are coming from in relation to this matter. This is not a matter about the GST. The Labor Party know full well that the debate about the GST has passed them by. This is about their relationship in the political system and this is about the Australian Labor Party—

Mr Griffin —Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order on the basis of the comments by the member himself, going to relevance. The member is saying that this bill is not about what this bill is about so, on his own point, he is out. Sit him down.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —There is no point of order. I call on the speaker to continue his remarks.

Mr RONALDSON —I do not see the name of the honourable member who just took the point of order on the speaking list either. It is an indication of how important this matter is to the honourable member, along with the shadow minister for small business. The Labor Party's debate today is about their irrelevance in the political process. What they cannot come to terms with is the fact that the Australian Democrats are now the other political party in the main political game in this country. That can be the only reason why the member for Lowe—

Mr Murphy interjecting—

Mr RONALDSON —who would be most unwise to interject, because he is not in his seat—would talk about leadership in the context of these amendments moved by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Why would he talk about leadership in that context?

Mr Murphy —Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order relating to relevance, because the article that I was referring to expressed the grave reservations that the Treasurer had in terms of the GST, and it was very relevant.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —There is no point of order. I call on the member to continue his remarks.

Mr RONALDSON —I cannot believe that the Australian Labor Party are trying to deny me my right to speak on these amendments. I am quite appalled by the fact that they would be taking this course of action. The matter at stake here is the Australian Labor Party's failure to accept that this tax legislation is now part of Australian tax law. If they are genuinely going to play a part in the tax debate, it is incumbent upon them to start talking about it in the generalities of the Australian good. It is simply not appropriate to stand up in this place and start addressing anything except the nuts and bolts of taxation reform in Australia. You have got a choice: you either deal yourself back in or you are permanently dealt out. (Time expired)