Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I agree with many things that you said, Senator Faulkner, as I always do. The one thing we need to realise in this chamber is that proposals can only pass this chamber if there is some consensus or some general agreement. It is not like the other place, where the government of the day can do exactly what it wants. Under the current configuration we have to have some consensus. So while the ideas that were put forward in the original proposal were ones I still hold to, there has to be an agreement by least two of the parties in this place before we can get anything through at all. I think what we have finished up with is something that people are prepared to give a try. It does not mean that it is the end of the road; it means there may be a chance at some future stage to revisit some of the issues that we have raised and, provided we can get to the stage where the parties concerned do not feel that any of them will be disadvantaged in their questioning, then in fact we might be able to go further.

Senator Faulkner, in his remarks, talked about estimates and how that is the process in which the most answers are given to questions that are asked of ministers and departmental officials. Can I say to Senator Faulkner that, if the answers that are given in this chamber were in any way similar to the answers that are given at estimates, we probably would not even be looking at this change.