George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Rice, I appreciate that. Madam Deputy President, for the second time today we have seen an abuse by the Greens of the process of this chamber. The first abuse of process we saw was when the Senate sat this morning, and a motion was moved by a Greens senator, Senator Whish-Wilson, to, in effect, debate the budget, although it was clear to all senators that the program of Senate business for this week provided an opportunity tomorrow evening for party leaders and other senators to make statements, in relation to the budget. So the responsible parties in this chamber, the grown-up political parties—the government and opposition—defeated the attempt to abuse the process of the Senate.

We have, again, seen an attempt by Senator Ludlam to abuse the process of the Senate by wrongly invoking the procedure provided for by standing order 74(5). Since Senator Ludlam rose I have made some inquiries.