Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) | Hansard source

It is because of that approach—the obstructionist nature and the blockers of those opposite—under the leadership of Mr Dutton and, presumably, the instruction of Mr Dutton not to allow business to flow smoothly through the Senate, particularly on non-controversial bills, that we have a range of bills as we reach the end of this sitting year that we would like to pass. I don't think it is any surprise that, because of the way you approach the legislation program in this chamber, we do have a range of bills.

The way we have tried to set this up is that we order for the day a list of bills that are the government's priority and then people are able to talk on them and we progress through that motion. We think that is a sensible way—vote as you may on each bill, but don't just block. Say yes or no. Many of these bills have been on the Notice Paper for over a year. They have not been last-minute bills that have been dropped in to everybody's surprise. We won't be proceeding with electoral reform today, but some of the other bills have 2023 in the name of the bill.