Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I need no reminder because I was absolutely relevant to the government's response. What concerns me is that these very important government responses to what hitherto have been incredible inquiries led by senators could be compromised. I do not want to see any more politicisation of the system than we currently have. Quite often you can get consensus on reports, and governments respond to that in a very positive and favourable manner. I think this positive response from the government reflects that.

I want to come back to the point that you can undermine the system of integrity, as Senator Macdonald highlighted in his contribution before, by having very important inquiries called at short notice knowing that government members cannot be in attendance. You might have the technical right to do that, you might have the numbers to do it, but there is no positive contribution to the overwhelming good of the Senate in that respect. I have seen this happen with other committees as well and I think it risks diminishing the potential for positive responses such as the government's response to the report on the involuntary or coercive sterilisation of people with disabilities in Australia.

Committees such as the Nauru committee, of which I am a part of, I regret unfortunately continually call meeting after meeting after I have indicated that I am unavailable on that particular day. To reflect on Senator Macdonald's concerns, the two government senators were not available for a particular period of time and there was an arrangement for the committee to be extended to allow a further hearing with our participation. That was unilaterally changed. How can a government expect to respond positively to a Senate committee report when in many ways, shapes and forms there have been barriers put up to the participation of government senators? No-one is more concerned about the rights and the good of refugees in this place than government senators; I can assure you of that. But instead of having a Senate committee operate as it is meant to, with a bit of politics, to get good responses, such as the government's response that I keep coming back to—