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Thursday, 16 June 2011
Page: 3055

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Finance and Deregulation) (11:30): I was not going to speak on the third reading, because we wanted to deal with all of the divisions quickly, but, given that Senator Ronaldson has chosen to do a bit of grandstanding, I think a few facts in reply would be useful.

For those coalition senators who have recently entered the chamber, you are now about to vote for a bill which you have not funded, which has a fiscal cost of $1.7 billion.

Senator IAN MACDONALD: Rubbish.

Senator WONG: You cannot say 'rubbish', Senator. Those are the facts. Secondly, it has an underlying cash cost of $175 million over four years and would increase the Commonwealth's unfunded liability by $6.2 billion. That is just this bill.

Those of you who are supporters of Senator Minchin might want to be aware of his comments on this bill. At a meeting of coalition senators considering this bill he warned his colleagues about this move. When confronted by arguments that the move would be very popular, he told his younger colleagues that such a proposal 'risked being the thin end of the wedge'. The coalition 'had to protect its credentials as fiscal conservatives', he said. Senator Minchin is not in the chamber today, but he is at least inside the coalition arguing for a fiscally responsible position, and it is very interesting that no-one has answered his criticisms of this legislation.

Senator Bob Brown put it well when he asked whether the coalition was fair dinkum on this issue. I again say this: if the coalition were serious and fair dinkum on this, they would have done something in government; they never did.

In 11 years, you never—it is very quiet now—found the money to fund this. In your election policy you did not fully fund this, and you are not fully funding this now. You only care about this issue when you do not have to find the money to fund it. That is the reality and it is shameful.

The government is being consistent on this position. We are very clear. We have to take a fiscally responsible approach. We agree with Senator Minchin, unlike many of his colleagues.