Shorten moves that small business goodies be passed immediately but Government votes against motion

LABOR today ambushed and embarrassed the Government — by agreeing to do what it wanted.

Bill Shorten has caught the Government off guard ... by agreeing with them. Picture: Kym Smith

LABOR today ambushed and embarrassed the Government — by agreeing to do what it wanted.

Ministers were caught by surprise when Opposition Leader Bill Shorten moved in Parliament that a package of small business measures be voted on immediately.

These are the measures Prime Minister Tony Abbott has branded as vital to economic recovery. Mr Abbott has at least six times expressed concerns the Opposition would vote the package down.

“I lay down the challenge to the Labor Party: help us to get that legislation through the Senate as quickly as possible,” the Prime Minister said on June 1.

But when Mr Shorten agreed to that support — as he has since Budget night — the Government did not accept the offer. It voted against his motion.

The Government called Mr Shorten “Australia’s biggest whinger” and branded the motion “a stunt”. And then went on to explain why it though the small package should be passed.

Earlier Mr Shorten had told Parliament

“See we’re prepared, when the Government has a good idea to back it in,” he said.

“But the people opposite … I’ve never seen them say anything good about the Labor Party and that’s because they live in a world where politics is more important than policy, where hate and division are more important than uniting this country.”

Originally published as Shorten moves that small business goodies be passed immediately but Government votes against motion