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

The shrieks from Senator Cormann highlight the difficulty that he has put himself in. It has exposed the madness that he is now pursuing in the Senate. He is using the Senate—and the opposition have agreed to this with Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon—and the procedures in this place for his own political pantomime. It is the only way you could describe it. We will get to the substance of the bill shortly. We are dealing with the precedent motion. I will deal with this madness that the opposition are now pursuing. To underpin the position, they were looking to the House of Representatives for a bill which was dealing with Medicare compliance—not a bill dealing with the Health Insurance Act at large, but with Medicare compliance.