Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister Birmingham. On 18 June 2020 the Liberal Party, the National Party and the Labor Party supported a temporary order restricting each senator's ability to move a general business motion. This rule change means that Independent senators can move only one motion per week. When you and the Labor Party decided to team up to cut the number of motions that smaller parties were able to move, you argued that it was because we were wasting too much of your time. In the six months since that temporary order, your government has spent 102 hours considering 111 bills. Over the same amount of time one year before, you spent 111 hours considering 136 bills. You spent less time on legislation after you gagged us than you did before you gagged us. This is over the number of sitting weeks too. My question is: what are you doing with all that time you've saved?