Senator WONG (South Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (12:38): Well, what we see today is a stealth attack on the Senate and a government treating this Senate with the same contempt with which it treats the Australian people. And we know the contempt with which this government treats the Australian people, because we know before the last election this government told Australians a range of things that are now demonstrated to be lies. 'There will be no cuts to education; there will be no cuts to health; there will be no changes to the pension; there will be no cuts to the ABC and SBS.' And, of course, 'There will be no adverse changes to superannuation.' Well, that is the latest lie in a conga line of lies from this government, which is utterly contemptuous of the Australian people. What the minister just read out is another broken promise. What those on that side of the parliament want is to ram through a new amendment, a new aspect, in the MRRT legislation. It was rammed through the Lower House yesterday without even a second reading speech being given by the relevant frontbencher. They want the Treasurer of this country, the bloke who thinks that poor people do not drive cars, to have the discretion as to whether Australians should get an increase in their superannuation. We will just give Joe Hockey the discretion! I will say something to the Palmer United Party and to other independents in this chamber. We recognise you will not vote with us on occasions. We recognise that and we respect it. We disagree with you on things but we respect your right to choose which way you vote. We do not respect doing a deal, coming in at 12.30 and voting to suspend standing orders so as to truncate debate to deliver a deal without notice. We in the opposition have tried to deal with you with courtesy; we have tried to deal to make sure, even when we disagree, we do so respectfully and give you appropriate notice. We were told of this stealth attack at 12.25. That is when the Manager of Opposition Business was told. Senator Seselja: A stealth attack? You wouldn't have even been told about it! Senator WONG: What is this government doing? Well, here we have another deal—another dirty deal that they tried to ram through the chamber just like we have seen before, showing as much contempt for this Senate as they show for the Australian people, as they break promise after promise after promise, and then tell people they are actually not breaking any promises. As I said, the minister on that side essentially read out a whole range of new policy positions in that introduction, which senators are supposed to absorb, debate and to consider. Presumably, perhaps, some of the crossbenchers might have that in writing. Those of us on this side of the chamber only had the benefit of the wisdom of the minister as he spoke. What is the Senate supposed to do? Apparently, what the Senate is supposed to do is say, 'We reckon we should make a change to superannuation in this legislation and we reckon Joe Hockey is doing such a great job that we will give him a bit more power. We will give him a bit more power to decide if we should dole out another superannuation guarantee increase.' What contempt for the Australian people. Senator Cormann: Read the amendments. Senator WONG: The minister says, 'Read the amendments.' Well, we will when we get them, Minister. He is inviting the opposition, the Labor Party and presumably the Greens—I presume they have not been told about this either—to read the amendments. Well, I look forward to them being circulated, given the minister circulated them about four minutes ago. Anyway, there was another lie, or falsehood—or perhaps misinformation might be correct—in what the minister put to the chamber when he said that the Senate was holding up the passage of the mining bill. The government got the mining repeal legislation through. What they did not like was the amendments protecting expenditures that are important to working people. They did not like the amended bill. That is what they are actually talking about, because they do not like democracy and they do not like to be questioned. Today, of all days, what we should remember is that Mr Abbott, on 5 August, told another lie: There's a commitment that I want to give you … There will not be deals done with independents and minor parties under any political movement that I lead. Well, what are we seeing today? We are seeing another dirty deal and a stealth attack on the Senate designed to ram through legislation by 1.40—it was rammed through the Lower House yesterday and has changes in it that have not been debated—just because this government wants a political win. (Time expired)