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

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the government's routine of business variation.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice of motion standing in my name, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving a motion to provide the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the Government's legislative program.

I gave a speech in this place just a few days ago on guillotines. I wanted to explain to Australians how this government likes to pack a lot of legislation together to avoid scrutiny and debate in this place—to avoid what the Senate is here to do. This government has had more guillotines in its first three years than what the coalition did in nine. Absolutely shameful! Last night at 8.30 pm, Labor sent all of us senators the mother of all guillotines. That's right—around 40 bills! So much for the right to switch off for our employees! You say, 'Don't answer your phone.' Ask them how they're going this morning because they haven't slept. Ask them how their health and safety are going!

You know it's a problem when the guillotine is four pages long. These aren't small bills. They aren't tweaks to legislation that we can call non-controversial. They are massive, and they include bills that are so undercooked and, putting it politely, raw to the bone. There's a bill that bans those under 16 years of age from social media. I thought this was a good idea. I think a lot of people out there thought it was a good idea until we looked at the detail, and, let's be honest, there's no detail. There are bills on privacy, migration, money laundering, and surveillance. There's the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024 for veterans out there, and, of course, there is the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024. That's the one where the major parties want to spend more taxpayers' money on their own political slush fund, and they've got their snouts in the trough.

To say that I am disappointed in this government is an understatement. It doesn't even cut it. The Albanese government came to this office promising transparency, promising a gentler parliament and promising that the Australian people would respect what we do in here. But, instead of that, they have refused a record number of requests for documents. The Attorney-General has spent $400,000 of taxpayers' money fighting for the right to shred documents. That's right—to shred documents.

When it comes to transparency and integrity in this government, it has been an epic failure. They have asked stakeholders to sign non-disclosure agreements before they discuss and show them the legislation. They refuse to tell Australians who the Prime Minister is meeting, even when the US President releases his own diary. That is shameful. They won't release the flight manifests to tell Australians when ministers are flying around on private jets on taxpayers' money. They promised lobbying and political donation reforms but then delivered a bill that asks Australians to fund their political slush funds.

They promised veterans that they would harmonise the legislation on compensation for their injuries, but they don't want to consult. They don't want to do amendments, and they want to give us 15 minutes to speak about you. That's after you've come out of a royal commission, which you are still hurting from. They want to ram this down your throat. They want to ram this harmonisation bill down your throat and amend three pieces of legislation without putting the national commissioner back in charge before it moves anything, which was a recommendation from the royal commission. Instead of delivering whistleblower reforms, they keep using hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars to prosecute whistleblowers and lock them up.

Now we have this mother of all guillotines. Last night Minister Wong said all people in this place deserve a safe workplace, and, just an hour later, they sent a guillotine through like that. How is it safe for the employees in my office to go through 41 bills in a matter of about 12 hours? How is that safe? How bloody hypocritical. What about the right to disconnect? Do you hear that—through the chair—Senator Cash? Do you hear those in the ACTU, Sally McManus and Michele O'Neil, standing up for our staff? Absolutely not. They're not up there. They've got gaffer tape all over them this morning.

It's not what the Australian people voted for. We were voted in to make legislation better. We have the right to put amendments up. We have the right to debate this, and you are shutting us up. The Australian people want you to get this right. This is not safe; it is dangerous. It is dangerous to shove bills down our throats. It is dangerous to shove bills down Australians' throats without us properly going through and actually having a good look at them and putting them under the microscope.

I was not voted into this place to give you a free pass to put through 40 bills in one day, and I sure as hell know that the Tasmanian people do not want me to do that. I'll remind you of something, and I'll table the document. In 2013, Rudd tried to put through nearly 50 bills on 26 June. Guess what happened in September? Guess who became the Prime Minister? It was not Rudd; it was Tony Abbott. So why don't you keep playing your games in here?