by leave—I advise the Senate that, subsequent to the election, the caucus of the federal parliamentary Labor Party has re-elected me to serve as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and Senator Conroy has been re-elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

I further advise that Senator Urquhart has been elected to serve as Chief Opposition Whip in the Senate—making it almost an entirely Tasmanian lock-in!—and Senators Bilyk and McAllister have been elected to serve as deputy opposition whips. Senator Dastyari has agreed to serve as Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.

Pause for effect!

Be afraid; be very afraid!

I wish to congratulate all senators on their appointments, and to acknowledge and thank particularly former senator Anne McEwen and Senator Moore for their outstanding service as Chief Opposition Whip and Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, respectively, during the last parliament.

Mr President, obviously the opposition would have preferred to have found ourselves on the other side of the chamber in the 45th Parliament; however, we return to this Senate ready to continue to hold this government to account, and we look forward to participating in robust debate and applying forensic scrutiny as we hold the executive to account.

I congratulate government senators who have been appointed to parliamentary positions and particularly congratulate those who have been appointed to the executive. It is an enormous privilege to serve as a minister of the Crown for the Commonwealth of Australia, and we congratulate you on that appointment.

I seek leave to table the shadow ministry list for the 45th Parliament and to have it incorporated into Hansard.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

Incorporation:20160830:shadow ministry