Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That, for this sitting, so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent:

(1) Government business having precedence from 9.30 p.m. until 11 p.m.;

(2) the Speaker interrupting the debate at 11 p.m., if the House is still sitting, and immediately adjourning the House;

(3) any business being debated when the House is adjourned being listed on the Notice Paper for the next sitting; and

(4) any variation to this arrangement being made only by a motion moved by a minister.

Mr Speaker, briefly, there has been an approach from the Manager of Opposition Business to extend the time for consideration in detail of the clean energy bills this evening. The government is happy to accommodate that. This will allow for some certainty and for the debate to end at a reasonable time for parliamentary staff, given that that will make today a 14-hour sitting day. I do indicate that, up to question time, we had had 33 hours of debate. This will allow another 6½ hours of debate. There have already been some 120 speakers to the clean energy bills, and this will allow for further debate this evening. I commend the motion to the House.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Very briefly, I am glad that the Leader of the House has agreed to extend the consideration in detail for a couple of hours tonight, but I make two points. The first is that there are still speakers on the speakers list for the second reading stage from both the opposition and the government who will not get the opportunity to make their speeches because the government is gagging the carbon tax package of bills, which is a shame and a disgrace. The second is that the consideration in detail stage would have been the perfect opportunity for the government to have these bills, these 19 bills, scrutinised by the parliament to ensure that the i's have been dotted and the t's have been crossed. In spite of the fact that the opposition oppose this package of legislation, consideration in detail is very important, yet the Leader of the House' s proposition was that there be only three hours of consideration in detail on 19 different bills. Certainly, we are extending that tonight through this motion; but, quite frankly, if the Leader of the House wanted to get this legislation right rather than just get it through by gagging debate, there would not be a vote happening at five o'clock tonight on the second reading, and the consideration in detail would be left open-ended in order to give the parliament the time frame to properly consider the government's legislation.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In conclusion, I say that the government would be happy to accommodate the two remaining opposition speakers who are not on the list.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am speaking to conclude the debate on the motion that I moved—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House has the call. He will ignore interjections—and the interjections will cease.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition have of course never read a standing order in their lives. But we would be prepared to not have the MPI debate so as to allow the two remaining speakers to conclude. We on this side of the House make that offer to the opposition, very publicly. We will not seek to have further speakers on the debate. We would be happy to accommodate the opposition having those two speakers immediately, and then we could have the MPI debate in the remaining time if need be. But we would be very happy to accommodate what the Manager of Opposition Business requests—and it might be more useful than listening to the shadow Treasurer, who could not be bothered to turn up to the tax forum or the jobs forum last week.

Question agreed to.