House debates

Monday, 2 June 2008

Business

Days and Hours of Meeting

3:59 pm

Photo of Joe HockeyJoe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

In dialogue with the Leader of the House, we are trying to be as accommodating as we can be. But I say to the Leader of the House that the way bills are being rammed through this chamber at this moment is quite simply unprofessional. Last year 11 bills were guillotined; five of them were related to the Northern Territory intervention. So far, the Labor Party in government have guillotined three bills and indicated they are going to guillotine other bills throughout the course of this week. As a result, we are now finding out more about the Fuelwatch bill, for example, through sources other than debate in the chamber. I say to the Leader of the House: getting legislation through this chamber is difficult at the best of times but, if this is going to be an unholy mess, we will ensure that the government are held accountable for it. If they are not organised, we will make sure that that disorganisation has a price.

Question agreed to.

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