Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Conroy. I refer to the Senate's constitutional role as a house of review and, to use the minister's own words, as a chamber of accountability and scrutiny. I also refer to numerous statements by Senator Milne and other Greens senators about the importance of the Senate in diligently reviewing legislation and by the Prime Minister herself when she promised a new era of accountability and to 'let the sun shine in'. Will the minister confirm that the government and the Greens propose to guillotine an unprecedented 55 bills through the Senate this week? Will he also confirm that this will bring the total number of bills that the government and the Greens have guillotined through the Senate in the last three years to 216, compared with 32 in three years in which the coalition held a majority in the Senate? How does the minister defend this scandalous abuse of process?