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

That would allow the urgency motions from the opposition to be completed. It is a government time that is being chosen.

Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting—

The government should, notwithstanding Senator Macdonald's interjections, be able to organise its time as it sees fit to be able to debate the program as stipulated by government. There has been a convention in this place for a very long time that governments can determine what happens in government time. It would be disappointing to find that the opposition are now breaking that longstanding convention to allow the government to organise its time the way it sees fit. With those short words, I ask the Senate to agree to the motion.