Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Pursuant to contingent notice, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion relating to the conduct of the business of this Senate, namely a motion to produce documents that I have asked for from the Turnbull/cum-whoever government.

I think this is just absolutely appalling. This is about a motion to provide transparency. A lot of public money is being spent on this nuclear waste dump. A lot of processes have been established, and what we want to know is what is really going on inside the various government departments. Rather than being prepared to be transparent with the Australian people, the coalition government has denied me leave to move this motion. They are an absolute rabble. They're an absolute disgrace. They're rolling their own Prime Minister and they can't let the rest of us get on with governing the country. Just because they're not up to the job doesn't mean the rest of us don't want to get on with ours. The people in South Australia would like this government to get their heads out of the sand and their noses out of each others' backsides and start doing something for the people. The government are rolling the Prime Minister—knifing their own leader—rather than actually doing today what we've been elected to do in this place.

Just imagine if we have Peter Dutton as Prime Minister come the end of the day. Behaviour such as what we've seen from Senator O'Sullivan will be rife across this chamber. The whole reason that Mr Dutton in the other place has any sway over the Prime Minister, who leads this country, is because of the outdated, conservative, opaque views of people like Senator O'Sullivan here, who doesn't want transparency in this place.

Boy, oh boy, what a chaotic day we've got in this building today. We only have a few hours left of what is meant to be parliament, meant to be the place where we debate laws, where we ask questions of government, where we get information brought here, where we can be representatives of the people. Because this government can't even keep their own house in order, they're now trying to shut down the ability for the Senate to do its job as well. It is absolutely appalling. I tell you what: the people in South Australia that I represent deserve to know what this government wants to do in South Australia in terms of a nuclear waste dump.