Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, the opposition will not oppose the exemption from the cut-off. I think it is clearly the will of the majority of the Senate that these bills again be debated, today. However, I trust that the government side and indeed the crossbenches are ready to debate these bills, if it is the will of the Senate that they be debated today, and that they be debated and brought to a conclusion. We on the opposition side do not want to see yet again another episode of filibustering, with backbenchers coming in here and making inane 15- or 20-minute contributions simply to fill in time while the government desperately try to buy off Senator Xenophon. We have seen a circus from the government. I trust, if they want to bring these bills on today as they want to override the proper cut-off order in this, that they are ready to deal with these bills and bring them to a conclusion and that we do not have a parade of filibusterers.

What this whole episode has revealed is the arrogance of this government. This government has now been mugged by the reality that this is a bicameral parliament; this is a parliament in which the government has a minority in the Senate. It has to deal with that reality. It is a reality which Mr Rudd has completely ignored. Mr Rudd comes to the parliament, dumps a $42 billion spending package on the table and says, ‘Pass this or else!’ That is not the way to deal with a bicameral parliament in which the government is in a minority in the Senate. If this government does not want to be held to ransom by the crossbenches, it had better learn pretty quickly that it needs, with major packages of this kind, to negotiate with the opposition, otherwise it will continue to be held to ransom—