At the request of Senator Sterle, I move:

(1) That the Senate notes the hardship and financial difficulty being faced by dairy farmers in many parts of the country.

(2) That there be laid on the table by the Minister for Agriculture, by no later than 11.45 am on 5 December 2019, a legislative instrument giving legal effect to a dairy code, and if the instrument has not been tabled prior to the appointed time, the Minister be called on to table the instrument before petitions are called on that day.

(3) That if the legislative instrument required by paragraph (2) is not tabled, the Senate requires the Minister for Agriculture to attend the Senate at 3.30 pm on Thursday, 5 December 2019 to provide an explanation, of no more than 20 minutes, of the Government's response to paragraph (2).

(4) That following the Minister's explanation, or in the event the Minister fails to provide an explanation, any senator may move to take note of the response required by paragraph (3).

(5) That any motion under paragraph (4) may be debated for no longer than 60 minutes, shall have precedence over all business until determined, and senators may speak to the motion for not more than 10 minutes.

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Leave is granted for one minute.

Centre Alliance supports the intent of the motion. We have sought advice from the Clerk, and it is unprecedented that an order for production has been used to seek the tabling of a legislative instrument. On that basis alone, we won't support the motion, but we will consider an alternative.

The question is that motion No. 324, in the name of Senator Sterle, be agreed to.