Senator O'CHEE(3.14 p.m.) —To save Senator Sherry and his friends having to go to a list of the backbench, I will state that I am a trustee of a family trust. I make no apologies for that. But I wish to explain to honourable senators on the other side that there are a number of reasons why law-abiding Australians may wish to use a trust.

In the case of our family, we entered into a family trust arrangement to hold the family house at a time when my father had very bad heart disease. It was done for the purposes of estate planning. It was done to ensure that in case he died and my mother died soon after there would not be a problem of intestate. It is a perfectly reasonable legal thing to do to enter into a trust arrangement to protect the family assets.

The other side over there would like to have us believe that every Australian who enters into a trust arrangement does it to get some sort of tax advantage. We hear Senator Bob Collins, like a rather overstuffed galah, sitting up on the back bench going, `Tax advantage, tax advantage.' Of course, it is a non-trading trust; there is no tax advantage. It just goes to show the lack of understanding by people on the other side.

But of course if there is a tax advantage that some Australians wish to take from entering into a trust, one has to ask: what is the motivation? The reason people use trusts for tax planning is excessively high rates of taxation and, most importantly, excessively high rates of marginal taxation which are a direct result of the—

Opposition senators interjecting—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! Order on my left.

Senator O'CHEE —Madam Deputy President, thank you for your assistance, but I do not need any protection from the squawking on the other side of the chamber because they do not have any point to make. The reason we have excessively high rates of marginal taxation is the excessive spending of the previous Labor government which jacked up tax rates and forced ordinary Australian wage-earners onto the highest possible rates of personal income tax. I know ordinary wage-earners who have family trusts as well for exactly these reasons.

But there is one group of people which has no trusts at all, and that is the group of people who are sitting opposite, because the Australian public do not trust the opposition. Some of them do. Yes, Senator Crowley, I understand, has a trust. But collectively, as the opposition, they have no trust. The people of Australia do not trust those opposite because of the outrageous squawking and carrying on that we saw just a couple of minutes ago from Senator Bob Collins and his friends. There is absolutely no rationality in the carry on that we see from the other side.

Senator Bob Collins —You came in here a schoolboy debating champion; you remain a schoolboy debating champion.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! Senator Bob Collins, please.

Senator O'CHEE —Senator Bob Collins, you could never be a schoolboy debater because they could not find a blazer big enough for you, could they?

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! Can I have you addressing the chair, please, Senator O'Chee?

Senator O'CHEE —Thank you, Madam Deputy President. With your assistance we might get this back to a debate. The debate of course is about whether people in this country want to follow the line of the Labor Party. The Labor Party say, `Oh, well, there is all this tax avoidance.' Did the Labor Party attack trusts in the 13 years in which they were in government?

Senator Chapman —No!

Senator O'CHEE —No! Senator Chapman is right—no, they did not. Did the Labor Party do anything about some of the circuitous corporate and other arrangements entered into by the former Prime Minister? No, they did not. In fact, were those circuitous corporate arrangements of the former Prime Minister disclosed to the parliament? The answer is no, they were not. So, when we come to the question of public trust, there is no public trust in those opposite, because they have been displayed over 13 years to be utter hypocrites when it comes to standards of parliamentary propriety.

Senator Chapman —Laurie Connell and all that stuff.

Senator O'CHEE —We know exactly, Senator Chapman. There is all this sordid history of the Labor Party, and yet these people come in here like St Paul on the road to Damascus. They are suddenly changed and converted; they have suddenly seen the light. Unfortunately, all they see, the only light they see, is the lights of the double-decker bus driving down the road about to run over them. People in this country are absolutely fed up to their eyeteeth with the carry on we have from the Labor Party who have no ideas and no policy. Their only policy is opposition for opposition's sake. After all, when you look at it there is nothing these people on the other side of the chamber could do but oppose, because they are incapable of coming up with new ideas. That is why the people overwhelmingly sacked that mob at the last election and decided to put the coalition in government instead.