QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Minister for Health and Ageing and Deputy Leader of the House) (14:28): I'm asked whether we'll be joining with the coalition in their policy they announced on the weekend. I can say that we're not interested in joining the coalition in a price-discounting war with organised crime.

We're not interested in joining the coalition in the game of follow the leader that he pathetically appears committed to playing with the One Nation party. I'll tell you that. We won't be joining in a policy plucked out of thin air with one apparent objective: to go a little bit further than One Nation—to just go that little bit further than One Nation.

The member for New England is pumping his fist! He knows what's going on here. He knows this follow the leader game that he's playing.

We're not going to join in a policy that the Leader of the Opposition admits assumes that organised crime isn't going to change their price one cent. They're not that smart, are they? They're just going to leave their price completely as is.

We're not going to join a policy where the Leader of the Opposition expects retailers just to pass on the excise cut with no regulation. The Leader of the Opposition wouldn't dare saying on Sunday: he has faith in the winds of competition, but ordinary Australians know how well that serves them in the retail industry. Most importantly— The SPEAKER: Order!

The member for Spence will leave the chamber under 94(a). That kind of yelling is completely unacceptable. I'm asking everyone.

There is far too much noise—particularly while I'm speaking and addressing the House. I'm going to ask everyone just to reset. There's just far too much noise.

This ongoing yelling is not acceptable. I don't think it's acceptable. I'm pretty sure everyone watching this doesn't think it's acceptable.

I'll ask the minister also temper his language as well to make sure dignity and respect is shown throughout the House. Mr BUTLER: Most importantly, we won't be joining the coalition in a policy that didn't even ask the question, 'What will the impact of this be on the public health of our country?' What will the impact be on the public health of our country? It's the most grossly irresponsible act of wilful blindness I've seen in a long time.

I think we all know why they didn't ask the question—because they know the answer. They saw it in Canada, where smoking rates, particularly among the young, went up by hundreds and hundreds of thousands. If I'm asked about joining, we are very glad that the coalition now seems to be willing to join us in some enforcement effort, because it's better late than never.

As I said yesterday, after increasing tobacco excise by 215 per cent in their time in government, they did nothing extra on enforcement. They trousered every single dollar of that excise into general revenue—not a single dollar into enforcement, not a single dollar into public health programs. We get that there is a huge challenge here.

We recognise Premier Minns' advocacy around this, but we're not going to pluck figures out of the air with wilful blindness about the impact on public health. We're not interested in a bidding war with organised crime. We're interested in shutting down the stores and taking them to court.

We're certainly not interested in this pathetic game of follow the leader that the Leader of the Opposition seems committed to with One Nation. (Time expired)