Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we have seen unfold in this chamber over the past days is the selective tearing up of the very conventions that govern this place. It has been a longstanding convention that the government provides the order of the call for question time and that questions are fairly allocated across the chamber. The Senate has chosen to tear up this convention, choosing to curtail the opportunity of non-executive government members, like me, to ask questions on behalf of my state to ministers, therefore denying almost one-third of the Senate—19 non-executive members of the government—a core function of fair democratic representation.

Senator David Pocock has previously stated that 'the opportunity for all Australians to be heard and fairly represented' is 'an issue which goes to the heart of our democracy'. And I couldn't agree with you more, Senator Pocock. But surely this does not just apply to representation from crossbenchers, the Greens political party, the Liberal Party and the National Party—non-government senators like them. Government senators should be allowed the opportunity to serve their representative function in question time too.

I have a motion on the Notice Paper for today, and it asks one very simple thing of senators—that, if you wish to rewrite the conventions that surround question time, you should at least show up for question time. Of course, this motion would not change any of our other agreed principles around absences for breastfeeding, caring, family reasons, illness or medical reasons. Senate question time is a crucial way for senators to seek information and to hold the executive to account. It's an important part of our program, and I do not think it is unreasonable that senators prioritise it over other recreational activities, which has become practice for some in this place. So I look forward to the Senate's support for this motion.