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

If I can be bold enough to assume that the opposition will allow the debate to progress without endless procedural motions or interruptions, then the time available will be theirs to spend on the second reading and committee stages. The opposition can of course choose to add to that time through MPI debates and other opportunities that are available, or they can spend the additional time—particularly the four sitting days added to the program—actually debating the substantive matters of the bill. The government is not seeking to curtail question time, notices, the adjournment debate or private senator's business; all of that remains for the opposition to use effectively. The motion does remove general business for those two weeks, but this is to ensure that we can conclude the debate by 21 November, with the bulk of the debate taking place in the first two sitting weeks of November. This motion will allow relatively normal parliamentary sitting weeks, as I have indicated, with considerable time for the second reading and committee stages of the legislation package.

The government anticipate that the opposition will use this time to debate constructively, to review the legislation, despite their clear position of being opposed to the legislation. Their position is of course on the record. I would encourage them not to take the time to filibuster during this debate but to constructively use the time available to debate the substantive issues contained within the two bills. In fact, they could demonstrate that this morning by supporting the passage of this motion so that we can ensure that those two weeks are available. I am not so sure the opposition are going to do that; I suspect they are going to oppose it and I suspect they will continue to debate this for some time. However, we are keen to ensure that we do get on with parliamentary business and that we do not spent interminable time in filibustering, stretching out the debate, when we have important legislation to conclude this week as well.

Finally, I remind the Senate of the context of this debate. This package is the culmination of an extraordinary amount of work over the past 17 years. In the past three years, there have been numerous committee inquiries into the issue, with one joint committee inquiry completed this year; exposure drafts of the legislation from that inquiry; and, finally, the joint select committee inquiry due to report next week. The issue has been considered at length. It is now time for this package of bills to be debated. This motion for the variation of hours will put in place the appropriate mechanisms to ensure that the opposition have sufficient time to proceed with the debate, and I hope they engage in that process and contribute constructively to the debate. I seek the support of the chamber for this motion.