Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

There has certainly been a lot of spin put today. It is my understanding—I am happy to be corrected about this—that the amendments in relation to the Fair Work Bill have been circulated, so it is not correct for Senator Abetz to say that they have not been circulated. I may have misheard him in the spray that he was providing in relation to this issue. It may of course be masking the inability of the opposition to come to grips with how they are actually going to deal with the Fair Work Bill itself. But, in any event, the government stands ready to deal with the legislative agenda for this week. That includes two substantive bills, which we do know will take a considerable amount of time to deal with. Both of these bills, the customs tariff amendment bill and related bill—broadly known as the ‘alcopops bills’—and the Fair Work Bill in committee, will take some time. As I understand it, and I am happy to be corrected—