Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, I have been talking for 13 minutes now about all the bills that have been guillotined. I get one interjection and you then draw me into line and forget about the interjectors. I have been talking about these bills, which are so important. On Thursday, in one day, we are going to go through the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Fair Protection for Firefighters) Bill 2011. All of us have been approached by the firefighters about that, and we all agree with the general tenor of the legislation, but it is legislation that should be debated. Who knows? Perhaps the draftsman made a mistake that could be pointed out in the Committee of the Whole, but we are not going to get that opportunity.

The Work Health and Safety Bill 2011, the Auditor-General Amendment Bill, the Personal Property Securities Amendment (Registration Commencement) Bill 2011 and the Competition and Consumer Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2011 all need scrutiny. These are things that need to be fully debated, because quite frankly the Labor Party and the Greens do not have all wisdom. Totalitarian leaders of the past used to think that they had all wisdom; they did not need a parliament, they did not need opposition and they did not need to be able to discuss legislation. They just did it, and if anyone did not agree then poor fool them and good luck for their future safety. This is the first stage, when they deny parliament the opportunity to properly debate these bills.

I have been here a long time. I was here when the Independents and the Democrats were in this parliament. In 1999, as I think Senator Ludwig mentioned, the crossbenchers and the Labor Party had a majority in this place, and we would never guillotine things like this. I had my issues with the Democrats, but in those days the Democrats would never have allowed the sort of guillotining that the Greens are now allowing. The Greens used to make a virtue out of allowing people to debate legislation for as long as they wanted, whether they agreed with it or not. The Greens used to say, 'It's your right to debate it.' But what happens now? They want to go to Durban, and so they are happy enough to take an early Christmas holiday and cancel the last three days of the scheduled sitting. The Democrats would never have done that. As I say, I had my issues with the Australian Democrats, but at least they were true to their word on the issue of guillotining. The Greens clearly have a different agenda. The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Review of Future Uses of Broadcasting Services Bands Spectrum) Bill 2011 is enormously important and needs to be fully debated. But will it be fully debated? We will not even get a chance to open our mouths on that. I could go on. There is the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010—parliamentary scrutiny of human rights! What parliamentary scrutiny is there when people who represent 51 per cent of the Australian population are not even going to get a chance to talk on it? There are other bills as well.

I do not want to use my full time on this debate. I ask the government to act as if they are a democratic party and allow proper debate. There are three days set aside in the schedule that really should be used for this debate. I will leave it there and urge the government to rethink.

(Quorum formed)

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Ludwig's) be agreed to.

The Senate divided. [10:59]

(The President—Senator Hogg)

Question agreed to.