Mr HOCKEY (Minister for Financial Services and Regulation) (1:10 PM) —Can I just clarify for the gallery and for the members of the House this fact: the longstanding practice in this place is that all outstanding excise tariff proposals are brought together in one excise tariff amendment bill at regular intervals. It happened under the Labor Party when they were in government, and it is happening under us in government. That is point No. 1. Point No. 2 is that if the member for Hotham and the Labor Party are so opposed to these changes on beer let them say now that, should they be elected to government, they are going to reverse it. I cannot hear anything. Can you hear anything?

Mr Ronaldson —No.

Mr HOCKEY —We have been hearing about roll-back for the last 18 months. The member for Hotham can now stand up and say that the opposition are so opposed to these beer changes that they are going to get into government and, under roll-back, they are going to get rid of them.

Mr Crean —We'd do it before that.

Mr HOCKEY —Now is your chance. Is that a pledge? Is this an election pledge?

Mr Crean —We will hold you to your promise.

Mr HOCKEY —Is this an election pledge? Is this what roll-back means? Are you going to roll back the beer excise changes?

Mr Crean —We will hold you to your promise.

Mr HOCKEY —No pledge. Roll-back—question mark. They are so opposed to this beer excise change that should they be elected to government they are going to keep it. That is the Labor Party at work. Talk about fraud! Talk about hypocrisy! The member for Hotham is leading the charge. He is the field marshal of an army full of fraudsters, because he is so opposed to this beer change that, should those opposite be elected to government in nine months time, they are going to keep it. This is horrendous for the Australian people. This is terrible for the Australian people. It is so bad that, should the Labor Party be elected, they are going to keep it. There is silence from the Labor Party. It is not as if the member for Hotham is by himself. He has the shadow Attorney-General with him over there.

Mr Horne —You don't need any assistance to show you are a fool.

Mr HOCKEY —He is also over there with the soon-to-be-finished member for Paterson. When Bob Baldwin comes back he will be fighting for the people of Paterson. It is quite sad that only nine months out from an election, after we have been hearing the word `roll-back' repeatedly from the Labor Party, they now have a chance to come into the House and actually say that they will roll back this beer change, but they are so committed to it that they are going to keep it! That says everything about the Labor Party—about the hypocrisy of the Labor Party, about the fraud of the Labor Party and about the deceit of the Labor Party. Given all of that, I move:

That the question be now put.