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

In usual times, when the opposition and the government—and when we were in opposition—treated them as non-controversial bills, senators spoke to them in a way which would ensure their passage during the period usually set. However, there has been a lack of cooperation in that regard. We even have one non-controversial bill that has been held over from July. It highlights what has happened—those opposite treating non-controversial bills as full debating bills when we have agreement that they are noncontroversial. It seems that that convention has worn quite thin of late.

There are also 20 or so bills listed on the draft program for the week. The majority of these bills have commencement dates on or before 1 January 2012. These bills need to be completed this week to ensure that they can commence by their start-up date of 1 January 2012. It is not unusual for the Senate to deal with about this number of bills in its final sitting week. It is not unusual for the Senate, with a level of cooperation, to organise its business so that we can sit a few extra hours this week and organise its business with a motion which provides certainty for those in the chamber that we will progress through the bills this week.