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

In my response, Mr Deputy President, that is precisely what I was doing. I used the term, Mr Deputy President, because Senator Abetz has come in here without notice and moved a motion to take away the opportunity for this Senate to deal with private senators' business, to deal with legislation. Of course, Senator Abetz has also removed the opportunity—which Senator Abetz has named himself—for an explanation, because there are many ways in which this may be dealt with other than by upsetting this Senate through a procedural motion to direct a specific senator to undertake a particular task. That is a ridiculous position to put any senator in. There are many opportunities to have the Senate deal with this issue. As Senator Abetz indicated, one avenue is privilege. Senator Abetz would understand that, having had—

Opposition senators interjecting—