Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to speak for five minutes. I did flag that earlier.

Leave granted.

I thank the Senate, and I appreciate the courtesy that has been offered to me. I will just make a few points. The first is that Senator Di Natale claims that they are the ones that have been strongest against the 2014 budget. No, I reckon the federal opposition might have had a bit to do with the campaign against the 2014 budget. I reckon I might have seen members and senators from the Labor Party going out and arguing for Medicare, for fairness and against $100,000 degrees. So let's not try to pretend that did not occur. That is the first point.

The second point I would make—and I will be very brief—is that Senator Di Natale and the Greens want supporters of marriage equality to believe that an hour-long debate and a gag that they want to move is somehow better than Senator Leyonhjelm's motion today, which would have ensured, without a gag, a full debate and this issue being voted on before the Senate rose.

So we got an hour-long debate with, possibly, a gag, against a full debate where the Senate would have to resolve the issue of marriage equality before we went home. This is a cynical political ploy from the Greens, who are seeking to cover up the fact that today they voted with the government to prevent bringing on a vote and ensuring a vote for marriage equality. Everybody should understand that—an hour-long debate plus a gag.

I know that Senator Di Natale has become addicted to gags. He has voted with the government 100 per cent of the time on gags this week and at the end of the last sitting fortnight. He appears to think that is the best way to try to deal with the marriage equality issue too, because he did not have the courage today to do the right thing, which is to bring his Greens bill on and debate it. I thank the Senate.

Question agreed to.