Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That standing order 133(b) (deferred divisions) be suspended for this sitting.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek to speak on the motion. Had the government come in this budget week and said, 'We need to reorder business to pass legislation to ensure that people can go and see their GP for free and triple the bulk-billing incentive,' we'd have entertained that. Had the government come in this budget week and said, 'We want to pass legislation to get dental into Medicare,' we'd have entertained that. Had they come and said, 'We want to pass legislation to wipe student debt by 20 per cent to ensure that it's protected against whatever might happen in the next government,' we'd have entertained that. We offered the government action on all of those things because, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, when we have been called back for a couple of days to sit, we should be prioritising legislation that might actually help people. But, instead, the government says, 'We've got to come back and reorder business to fast-track legislation to gut our environment and climate laws and to do a dirty deal with the opposition to fast-track extinction.'

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, the Leader of the House?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just on relevance, the motion that the Leader of the Australian Greens is speaking to is not the motion that's before the House. The motion that's before the House is whether or not the standing order that would defer any divisions till after question time be suspended.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House is correct. I'm just giving the Leader of the Australian Greens some licence, but the procedure motion before the House is—

Honourable members interjecting—

Just hold your horses. Members on my right are not helping this situation either. People are interjecting outside of their place. Any member on their feet has the right to debate. Everyone on my right can just cease interjecting. But this is to deal with the standing order, so, if you wish to address the motion, you can, but you'll need to be relevant to the motion before the House before we get to other motions.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay. This is a motion to reorder the business of the next couple of hours to allow divisions to occur in the next couple of hours. Usually at this time on a Tuesday there are no divisions occurring. Why is it that, in a sitting that many people didn't expect to have and with a couple of days of sitting left, the government says, 'We want to change the way things are done usually to allow for more divisions to happen and more votes to happen to allow legislation to be fast-tracked through this place'? That's what the divisions are for. Why is the government wanting to do that? It's not to wipe student debt. It's not to ensure that people can go and see the GP for free and that we Dutton-proof that legislation. No. It's to bring legislation to this place and ensure that the normal order of doing things is reorganised so that they can fast-track the extinction of a species in Tasmania and introduce legislation that will gut our climate and environment laws. That is why they are moving this motion to allow for, over the next couple of hours, votes to take place on legislation that was seen a couple of days ago that hasn't been through the usual Senate inquiry process and that will not address the cost-of-living crisis that people are under when we are called back here for a budget. They will instead act, simply because the big corporations and the Leader of the Opposition have said, 'Jump,' and the Prime Minister has said, 'How high?'

The legislation which the suspension motion from the Leader of the House is designed to fast-track over the next couple of hours by rearranging the way things are usually done will not address the cost-of-living crisis that people find themselves under. That is not the government's priority in moving this motion. They have shown absolute unwillingness to legislate even their own measures, which they say are so important. They want to hold wiping student debt by 20 per cent ransom to the outcome of the election. They won't bring a motion to this parliament to say, 'Let's pass that now.' Let's legislate seeing the GP for free and tripling the bulk-billing incentive—an idea of the Greens that they've adopted. No. We won't bring a motion to parliament to re-order business and to allow debate and divisions to happen to ensure that that progresses today.

No. What this motion is about is ensuring that, over the next couple of hours, the government fast-tracks legislation that will make a species extinct, and—not just that!—the government says, 'Please pass this motion so that we can debate this legislation.' You know what, Mr Speaker? There's a reason that they're not prepared to put this to a Senate inquiry and, instead, want to go through this dodgy process here now to allow divisions to happen at a time when usually there would not be divisions. The reason that that is being proposed is to hide scrutiny of just how wide ranging this bill is.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. The Leader of the Greens will resume his seat for a moment. The Leader of the House?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order of relevance to the motion that's before us, again. It might be of some assistance—while the Leader of the Greens is referring to reordering of business that might be moved in subsequent motions, the bill that he's referring to is actually scheduled to be debated and voted on this afternoon. This standing order is irrelevant to divisions that happen after 2 pm. The resolution that we have now basically determines whether or not we can deal with supply bills and whether we can deal with a transport security bill before we get to question time. The legislation that he's referring to is legislation that—even on what's going to be moved subsequently and even if that were somehow relevant—is completely outside the ambit of the motion that's before the House right now.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To assist the House—it's a big day today—could the Leader of the Greens just stick to the motion regarding the standing order. I know he's bringing other materials in, but I just want him to be directly relevant to the standing order, 133(b), which is before the House now as we're making the decision whether the deferred divisions will occur or not.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course those other bills can be progressed through this parliament, but what the government knows that it is trying to do is to ensure that, over the next few hours, passage is cleared, including by moving any procedural motions and having any divisions on them that are necessary, for an unprecedented piece of legislation to be put through this parliament today. That's what the government is attempting to lay the groundwork for in this motion—to allow unprecedented legislation that has not been to an inquiry, that will have wide-ranging implications not just for the fast-tracking of a species to extinction but also to allow coal and gas projects to be approved, to allow other environment destruction to take place and to remove the communities' right to oppose that. The government knows full well what it is trying to do, which is to clear the procedural decks to allow the fast-tracking of legislation that will fast-track a species to extinction and open up massive loopholes in our environment laws that other coal and gas corporations and other huge developers are going to be able to drive their way through. The government knows that. The government knows that absolutely.

We'll oppose this attempt to reorder and clear the procedural decks so that the government can fast-track this terrible legislation through. I urge the government in the remaining time that it's got, as it's considering the procedural motions that it's putting here, to go back to the drawing board and say: 'Let's use these next couple of days to pass legislation that will benefit people, that will wipe student debt, that will triple the bulk-billing incentive and that will get dental into Medicare. Let's use it to do that, not to fast-track a species to extinction and to gut our climate and environment laws.'

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question before the House is that the motion be agreed to.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following:

(1) on Tuesday, 25 March 2025:

(a) standing orders 31 (automatic adjournment of the House) and 33 (limit on business after normal time of adjournment) being suspended for the sitting; and

(b) the Federation Chamber not meeting;

(2) on Thursday, 27 March 2025:

(a) standing order 31 (automatic adjournment of the House) being suspended for the sitting; and

(b) after the Leader of the Opposition completes his reply to the Budget speech, the House automatically standing adjourned until 10 am on Monday, 7 April 2025, unless the Speaker or, in the event of the Speaker being unavailable, the Deputy Speaker, fixes an alternative day or hour of meeting; and

(3) any variation to this arrangement being made only on a motion moved by a Minister.

For the benefit of the House, this is the standard motion that is moved in budget week each year.

Question agreed to.