Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to place on record that my earlier contribution to this debate took less than two minutes, and I will not speak very long this time. We are not going to waste the same amount of time as the government did, but the crux of this is that the government are embarrassed because the Prime Minister cannot get his agreement to run around the world to show off with. That is all this is. It has nothing to do with the hours of this place. We want sensible hours so we can have a sensible debate. Senator Xenophon and Senator Fielding, being Independents, have no backup support in their party structures, so they need to have some time out. I place on the record, in relation to the amendment to my amendment, that we will not be supporting Senator Fielding’s amendment and we will not be wasting any more time, as the government have been.