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

by leave—I thank the Leader of the Government in the Senate for his contribution and I just want to make a few comments on Hansard from the opposition's perspective.

As Senator Cormann has said, the system of pairing in the Senate has operated successfully for decades, and that has been as a consequence of arrangements between the parties. The pairing of senators who are absent ensures that in all divisions where government and opposition are voting in opposite ways the result in this chamber is not determined as a consequence of the absence of particular senators voting one way or the other. This is a system of benefit to all parties in a chamber where there is no one group which has a majority and the balance of power exists with a number of crossbench senators. An important feature of this system is the convention of governments and oppositions accommodating minor party and Independent senators in their pairs in divisions where government and opposition are on opposing sides in divisions. Clearly, in a hybrid parliament we do have to look at how we ensure that this system continues to operate, and we agree with the government that, in order for this system to work in this context, pairing instructions from senators who are not otherwise represented in the chamber during a division should be transparent, provided in writing and made available equally to whips of all parties upon request.