Senator WILLIAMS (New South Wales) (15:18): Can I congratulate you, Deputy President Marshall, on your election as Deputy President of this Senate. It was a clear victory to you, given that you were unopposed. Well done! I could come in on many things here. We have heard Senator Urquhart talking about the boats and the asylum seekers. I was doing an interview on Fairfax television this morning with Ms Terri Butler, the member for Griffith. Mr Deputy President, you would be familiar with the former member for Griffith, Mr Rudd. I am sure you are familiar with the man. When Mr Rudd was Prime Minister, in August 2008, he did away with the Pacific solution. Senator Conroy: You don't want to talk about FoFA, though, do you? Senator WILLIAMS: I will get to that, Senator Conroy. You would have been a naughty boy in your younger days! Some 55,000 people arrived in Australia by boat, which was an enormous cost to the taxpayer. But the sad thing was that, on the best figures we have, some 1,100 people lost their lives. We are a generous country. I am proud that in the town in which I live we have refugees, people from Sudan, who actually lived in a tent for eight years before they could make their way to Australia and go through the hurdles of becoming an Australian citizen—and proud Australians they are. I want to talk about FoFA, which Senator Conroy just raised, a very interesting matter. I was on the original Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, when we inquired into Storm Financial, Opus Prime, Timbercorp, Great Southern and many other terrible financial products that cost so many people so much. The committee was chaired by Mr Bernie Ripoll, the member for Oxley in the other place, from your side of politics, Senator Conroy. There is no relaxation of the rules; let's get that straight. Section 961 of the FoFA legislation clearly states: 'Financial advice must be in the interests of the client first and foremost.' That is not negotiable. We are removing part G, a catch-all phrase which, on arguments put forward by lawyers, could leave financial planners open to being sued. That would mean higher insurance premiums, more cost. Currently, just one in five Australians now seeks professional financial advice. We need to raise that number, especially with respect to those with self-managed super funds. The FoFA inquiry has just been completed. I congratulate Senator Whish-Wilson, who played a major role, and former senator Mark Bishop, from Western Australia, who did a magnificent job of chairing the committee. One recommendation of the committee is that we license every financial planner in Australia and give ASIC the power to suspend that licence with just a phone call. If ASIC gets clear information that wrongdoing or forgery is being carried out, with one phone call it will be 'Charlie Brown, you're down to Centrelink next day.' That is a tremendous power and I am confident that we will get that recommendation through. But I want to talk about the question I asked Senator Abetz in relation to the signing of the trade agreement today with Japan. What a magnificent presentation by Prime Minister Abe, especially in relation to the Second World War— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Williams, I must remind you that the question before the chair relates to questions asked by the opposition today. Senator WILLIAMS: I was just trying to swing it the other way, but I will follow your direction, Mr Deputy President. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Williams. Senator WILLIAMS: We talked about the budget and my colleague Senator Smith focused on that as well—$320 billion was referred to last week, when talking about getting the budget in order. Senator Conroy: We didn't ask about the budget. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Williams, continue, and we will judge the relevance of your contribution in due course. Senator WILLIAMS: Thank you. We were talking about the questions to the government about the things we are doing to clean up the financial mess we inherited. Senator Conroy: They were all dorothys! Senator WILLIAMS: I wonder if Senator Conroy would like to take the call, Mr Deputy President! Continuing on— Senator Conroy: What about FoFA? Senator WILLIAMS: I am glad to take your interjection, Senator Conroy, about FoFA— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No, Senator Williams, just please continue. Senator WILLIAMS: Do I have to? Can't I take the interjection? The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No, you do not have to, but you are invited to. Senator WILLIAMS: I have had my say on FoFA regulations, and the exaggeration you put forward is amazing. I have said what we have done with the Economics References Committee's 61 recommendations. We talked about a royal commission. I instigated the Senate inquiry into liquidators; 4½ years ago I called for a royal commission into white collar crime, from phoenix and Ponzi schemes right through the system, and, now, from financial planners, we have discovered, and there is more to come out about that as well. So, as I said, we are on a united ticket with Senator Bishop and Senator Whish-Wilson. Senator Dastyari played a major role, and yet here he is today attacking the FoFA regulations. It is a total exaggeration to say that the FoFA regulations have been wound back—a total exaggeration. Senator Conroy interjecting— Senator WILLIAMS: I have followed them closely, Senator Conroy. Perhaps it is not an exaggeration that you might be leaving us soon. Is that an exaggeration, or is that just a vicious rumour around the chamber? You might confirm that. In conclusion, Senator Dastyari's question was a total exaggeration. (Time expired)