Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that at 8.30 am today 21 proposals were received in accordance with standing order 75. The question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the following letter has been received from Senator Keneally:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today I propose to move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Morrison Government to take responsibility for getting stranded Australians home, including acting on the Halton review recommendation to establish a national quarantine facility when the number of stranded Australians registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and wanting to come home has now doubled from 18,800 on 20 August to nearly 37,000 and the number of vulnerable Australians has increased from 4,000 to 8,000 in just five weeks."

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.