Senate debates

Monday, 28 November 2016

Business

Rearrangement

7:46 pm

Photo of Katy GallagherKaty Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition will not be supporting the suspension of standing orders nor the substantive motion tonight. It is interesting to get a lecture from the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Brandis, today of all days in this place about appropriate conduct and behaviour.

As far as the opposition goes—and I will stick to the substantive issue rather than debate the bill, which we will return to later tonight, it appears—the opposition have tried to assist as much as we can with the business of this place, and we are constantly treated with disrespect by the government. Tonight is a classic example of that. Rumours circulated in this place earlier this afternoon about potentially late sittings or motions being moved, and there was silence from the government until just before the bells rang, when they landed this motion into this place. This motion tonight signifies the dysfunction and chaos of the government, which do not seem to know minute by minute what is happening with their legislation, whether they have the numbers or how to organise their business.

Here we are tonight and before this adjournment by Senator Brandis debating one of the double dissolution bills—such a priority that it never even featured in the election campaign and it has taken four months to bring to this place! It has taken four months while they have scrambled around trying to do backroom deals to get the numbers locked in. We have been ready to debate this bill since we returned for this 45th Parliament. It has been the government that have refused to bring it on. Here we are facing extensive hours tonight, with a lot of speakers. We actually look forward to the debate on this bill. We look forward to defending working people's rights to organise. We do not fear the content of organised labour in this place. But what a joke from the government! Contrary to what Senator Brandis is saying—that we are not ready to debate this bill—we look forward to the debate and we look forward to putting forward the arguments as to why this is a bad law and why the Labor Party will oppose it.

We have seen in the last few days, as have the rest of the country, this sort of unseemly desperation from the government as they race around trading off whatever they can—whether it is water, guns or today the ABC board meetings that are now up for grabs. We will wait and see what other deals are being done in the pursuit of taking away working people's rights, because that is what this bill is about. We will remember this debate, because the government are seeking the mandate of this place for their ideological, irrational pursuit of unions.

On the broader procedural point, I would say this: last week we watched government senators filibuster in this place, like they do every sitting week. It does not appear that the government actually have a plan about how they organise their program. Last week, we had government senator after government senator speaking extensively on reports and committees and taking any opportunity they could to filibuster. Now we find out that we all have to pay the price for their lack of organisation of their program. Because the government cannot organise themselves, we are now facing the situation where we will have extended hours for two of the nights of this week, at least. Perhaps we will wait and see what desperate deal they do on Wednesday if they have not managed to get other parts of their legislation through.

The government do not ever seem to control their program. They do not control their speakers list and they do not control their speakers. Last week, for example, we gave up general business so that the government could get through some noncontroversial legislation, because they had failed to do that themselves. The opposition had to provide our time to allow the noncontroversial bills to go through, because government speakers had filibustered and thwarted, apparently, the government's program of getting legislation through.

I got a call from the Manager of Government Business in the Senate tonight at about 20 past 7, once the deal was done, saying that this was going to be moved at 7.30. We did not see the motion until after Senator Brandis was on his feet. This is no way to run a chamber, it is no way to run a government and it is no way to have a serious debate on a bill that is going to have a significant impact on so many people, particularly working people in this country. Sadly, we have come to expect this behaviour from the government.

Comments

No comments