Senator MARGETTS (4:23 PM) —I think the issue really is about the existing policies of parties—not whether or not they are going to promise something at elections—in this case the major parties in this chamber, the dinosaur parties. It is about what they actually say and whether or not such policies say that they are in favour of hiving off a particular group of people and making their conditions such that it is harder for them to achieve equity than others. That is what we come down to. It is not a matter of revealing in advance; we are talking about a situation where we are being asked to vote, now, on basic equity principles in relation to rent assistance. The issues are absolutely current. Those people who are involved need not to find out whether or not parties like the Labor Party may think about becoming fair and equitable in the future but whether or not they are operating as if they are an equitable party now. If they are not now, what makes anybody think that they would change their mind in the future?

The issue, as Senator Neal has suggested, is that it would cost too much.

Senator Neal —I didn't ever say that.

Senator MARGETTS —Senator Neal has indicated that it is all right for the minor parties to say this but they are the party in waiting to be government and therefore they cannot simply make—what was the terminology?—ad hoc decisions outside of the context of their entire package. What are they saying? Are they saying they are not going to try to hive off money to fund a glitzy tax giveaway? Or are they actually going make up for some of the inequities that have existed in the education system over the last few years? That is not very obvious here.

It is not a matter of ad hoc decisions, it is about whether or not you can suggest that a party who may not be operating along a line of principles now will suddenly become principled, supposedly leading up to an election, or whether or not what we are being told is intended to take the pressure off now because afterwards it will be too late. We will not know later but of course, at the moment, when we are being asked to make a decision, we are being told that it is the wrong time, the wrong question, out of context, ad hoc—let us find another excuse. That is what we are left with today.