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

That's why people deserve the right to debate this motion, and that's why the government will be debating this motion. People should be able to debate this and raise concerns about the approach that this Senate has taken. If you think you can just walk in here without notice and seek to discharge a piece of legislation without even having the courtesy to speak to the minister, then the government does reserve its right to make a contribution on this.

We have seen, I think, in this sitting fortnight, the way that the chamber approaches its work fundamentally shifting. It might be that the majority of this chamber feels that that's okay, but, in the meantime, I think it's within our responsibility as a government to draw that to the chamber's attention and to be allowed to put an alternative view. That alternative view is that this bill should not be discharged from the Notice Paper. Put this motion on notice and bring it back when we resume on 24 November. By then, Senator Ciccone's committee will have reported in the timeframe that this Senate set. I note there were contributions earlier that said the government had refused to report. That is not the case. The Senate decided—