Senator STERLE (Western Australia) (15:22): I move: That the Senate take further note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to questions without notice asked by Senators Dastyari and Bishop today relating to the regulation of financial services. There is a cunning plan going on on that side of the chamber. You can obviously see it. The trend of the week has been all about Western Australia because we happen to have a Western Australian Senate election. Mr Deputy President, I have to raise your attention to this: I do not see one Western Australian senator. There is one from Tassie, one from the ACT, one from Victoria—no, there is not one Western Australian senator who had the guts to stay in here and have the discussion. I want to go to the questions to Senator Cormann, but I cannot allow Senator Fawcett to escape with that ridiculous lead-in he gave me about how many doctors are employed somewhere in a GP superclinic in South Australia. We have a hospital in Perth—for all you West Aussies out there—called the Fiona Stanley Hospital. It is a well-known, brand-new, magnificent facility announced by— Senator Seselja: Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order going to relevance. Senator Sterle moved to take note of Senator Cormann's answers, which I believe were in relation to FoFA. I would ask that you direct him to be relevant. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Seselja. I draw Senator Sterle's attention to the motion that he has moved. We have always allowed a little bit of latitude in the debate, but not that much latitude. Senator STERLE: Mr Deputy President, it has to be known that there are so many mistruths coming from that side of the chamber. None of you have got the guts to stand here and talk about FoFA, but I will talk about FoFA. What a pathetic effort to defend this one. I want to read some interesting comments about the FoFA changes and the backflip from that side—the two-faced attitude from certain ministers. I go to today's Australian Financial Review. I quote Chanticleer, who said: Sinodinos bungled the financial advice reforms by putting too much emphasis on cutting red tape and too little on what it would mean for consumers. I go to another interesting comment in today's media from none other than Phillip Coorey, a very highly regarded journalist with the Australian Financial Review. He said: It is too early to describe the FoFA freeze as a backdown but it could end up that way. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says he intends to legislate for the policy as promised before the election, just that it would be better to have all the interest groups in agreement first— Der! He continues: Cormann, who designed the FoFA changes in opposition, is hardly signalling a rousing endorsement of stood-aside assistant treasurer Arthur Sinodinos. You are pathetic, you lot. Senator Fifield: Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I am wondering how Hansard records 'der'. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: There is no point of order. I am sure Hansard can cope. Senator STERLE: I am quoting. I am quoting Phillip Coorey. I just want to remind that lot over there: allegedly, it is Minister Cormann who designed the FoFA. It is Minister Cormann who stood here today and said he is new to the issue and so he could not answer the questions. Someone is not telling the full truth. I want to finish the quote for that lot over there. I quote Mr Coorey, who said: By Cormann's own admission, the stakeholders are largely opposed to what the government is proposing— There is another 'der'! He continues: He believes this to be more the product of misunderstanding and sloppy— Senator Fifield: Mr Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. It is just unclear to me whether the senator is quoting Mr Coorey when he says 'der' or if 'der' is his own contribution to the debate. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: There is no point of order. Senator STERLE: Thank you, Mr Deputy President. I am so glad of your protection. I am shaking in my boots from that fierce attack. I just want to finish with this. Phillip Coorey said: He believes this to be more the product of misunderstanding and sloppy reporting than anything the government has done. Here is a cracker. I would be very interested to hear the response from some of those over there. This is another quote from the Australian Financial Review today. Sally Patten reports: Commonwealth Bank of Australia revealed in September last year that it had stopped putting in place systems that would have enabled its advisers to sign fresh contracts with clients every two years, a measure Senator Cormann has been keen to drop. The government may also come under pressure to either obtain industry consensus … Well, well, well. Let's go to one more thing. I really would love 20 minutes on this, but I know I do not have 20 minutes, which is sad. I was wondering: why would this government do a massive backflip? Senator Edwards interjecting— Senator STERLE: Is it because there is an election in WA? I reckon that has a heck of a lot to do with it. I will tell you another thing. Listen to this, Big Ears. Sorry, I take that back, Mr Deputy President. That is unparliamentary but it is the nicest thing I could think of looking at Senator Edwards. On the AEC website there is a $20,000 donation to the Liberal Party from the Financial Services Council, and who heads up that? None other than Mr John Brogden, a former Liberal Premier. The Financial Services Council represents Australia's retail and wholesale funds. Well, well, well. The minister said he is new; the minister said he knew nothing about it. He was up to his neck in it, in my humble opinion. He knew all about that. This is all about saying to donors to the Liberal Party, 'Wait until the Western Australian election. We'll look after it once that's come and gone.' (Time expired) The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Sterle, I am sure you would be happy that your motion has the words 'further take note of the answers of Senator Cormann'. That is how the motion will be recorded.