Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution, following on from Senator Macdonald, to thank the government for their response to these reports. These reports, of course, have been a long time in the making and they deal with a number of significant issues. The government have provided a timely and wise response.

In responding to some of the points that Senator Macdonald made, I have to say that I concur with him. I think there is a risk if we diminish the cooperation of the committee system. We can all count. We know that if you have the majority of members you can do whatever you want, basically. You can have a vote and call private meetings and push through whatever agenda you want. But to do that in the manner which Senator Macdonald has reflected on and that some of us have experienced in recent times really does diminish the credibility and authority, I would say, of what hitherto has been an unbelievable system within the Senate.

I say that for two reasons. The first is that when an inquiry is being conducted there are always going to be political differences and some of us strive on some issues to reach a consensus and, at other times, we accept the fact that the government is going to put forward a particular majority view of the committee and there are going to be dissenting reports. However, that time-honoured principle is undermined when inquiries are called at very short notice knowing that regular contributing members of a committee cannot attend. Senator Macdonald highlighted that inquiry that has been pushed through and called for this Friday. It is a very important inquiry that reflects—