Senator WATSON (9:50 PM) —by leave—I have listened very carefully to the comments made by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Hill and by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Faulkner, in relation to the statement by Senator Abetz. I wish to remind the Senate that large investments have been made in Tasmania—bold, imaginative investments—in the belief that this RFA Bill was going to proceed. The tactics that have been employed in this place have the potential to severely depress the share price of the largest timber company in Australia. That is indeed regrettable. All too often we have seen Tasmanian forestry investments and Tasmanian forestry jobs put in jeopardy because of the power play of politics. This is indeed unfortunate. There has been a long history of that, and I think that because of the events in this last day and perhaps tomorrow we will see a continuation of that episode. That does not bode well for Tasmania, where we need jobs, where we need employment and where we need security, particularly if we are going to proceed and eventually have a pulp mill.

If there is goodwill on the part of both major parties at the conclusion of these so-called important bills that there has been agreement to put through, there would still be time, by the application of the guillotine and the gag, to get this legislation through. You might say that is somewhat abhorrent, but debates have taken place and committee hearings have taken place. It is disappointing that a number of people who wanted those committee hearings, et cetera, did not even participate. So I put it to you: if there is goodwill and if you say you want this legislation, tomorrow at the end of the other business there would still be time to put it through, provided that you are prepared to use the gag and the guillotine. I will leave it at that.