Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that, at 8.30 am today, Senators Cormann and Siewert each submitted a letter to the President in accordance with standing order 75 proposing a matter of public importance. The question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the following letter has been received by the President from Senator Siewert:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The opportunity for Australian business and Government to lead the rapid growth and uptake of renewable energy, including utility-scale solar plants, a task made more urgent given recent World Bank predictions that we may be on a path to a 4 degree Celsius warmer world by the end of the century.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the required number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.