STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr CALDWELL (Fadden—Opposition Chief Whip) (13:48): Apparently, the Prime Minister has discovered yet another independent institution. First, it was the independent Reserve Bank. Now it's the independent ATO.

It's funny how everything becomes independent the minute that Labor gets bad news about something, and the botched credit card ban is just another example. Labor celebrated banning the card surcharges, but those costs don't magically disappear. So, when the ATO realised that it would have to absorb these costs, what did it do?

You see, it announced straightaway it would stop accepting credit cards. The government expects that small businesses will accept them, but the tax office won't. And, of course, when the backlash came, Labor ministers couldn't even agree on what the position actually was.

They couldn't grasp the fact that the ATO is their department. This minister opposite, sitting at the table, wasn't even on the same song sheet as some of the other, senior ministers. The Minister for Housing thought, 'Oh, we should maybe wind them back,' but this bloke over here, the assistant minister, thought that this position was absolutely fantastic.

Mr CALDWELL: Yes, Deputy Speaker, you're right. The Treasurer came out with this beauty: We try not to interfere with the RBA or the ATO, but it's really important that we have stepped in today. So they're only independent when it suits them.

Are you actually serious, Treasurer? You've got no problem interfering when you want more tax money grabbed, but today you're not backing small business.