Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Added to the point that Senator Conroy just made is the concern that we are not just dealing with the minister sitting here and shrugging and refusing to answer the question about what lawful conduct would be available from us, as Senator Lambie said—a senator who will be campaigning in these circumstances and who wants to understand what would be appropriate campaigning under these new provisions. And the minister simply refuses to answer. Senator Day, though, by raising his amendments, raises an important issue about how to consider amendments in a bill and why we are still at the general question stage, because, of course, there are questions that run across a whole range of amendments. Whilst the government and the Greens seem to satisfy themselves with continuing to argue that we have the government's first amendment before us and, from time to time, they suggest we should narrow ourselves to just that one amendment—