Senate debates
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Statements
Discovery of Formal Business
3:34 pm
Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I seek leave to make a statement of no more than two minutes.
Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I thank the Senate. Formal business is the time in the Senate's routine of business which allows for motions to be dealt with in an expedited manner. Formal motions cannot be amended without leave from every senator, and they cannot be debated. As such, they should not deal with complex policy matters. Such motions are better dealt with in general business when there can be proper debate and when all interested senators have the opportunity to appropriately nuance and flesh out the complexity of all the issues raised by a particular motion. Each senator is also afforded the opportunity to raise issues and present their arguments at other times during a sitting week, including during the adjournment debate, senators' statements and debates on legislation.
When making judgements on whether something relates to a complex policy matter or not we cannot ignore the context in which relevant statements are made in the motion seeking the Senate's endorsement. This is why the government intends to deny formality for notice of motion Nos 604 and 612 in relation to Indigenous disadvantage. The government is committed to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians so this generation and future generations of Indigenous Australians can have the same expectations and opportunities as any other Australian. We're committed to closing the gap on a set of targets that will empower Indigenous Australians to transform their lives. We are doing this in partnership with Indigenous Australians in a non-partisan way.
All of us need to keep our eyes firmly focused on the outcomes we want to achieve. In that context, we do not believe that dealing with either of those motions in formal business would be helpful in achieving better outcomes for Indigenous Australians or for any Australian.
3:36 pm
Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I seek leave to make a short statement for two minutes.
Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Labor do not accept the government's position that treats general business notice of motion Nos 604 and 612 on an equivalent basis. We don't agree with the government's decision to deny formality on notice of motion No. 604—a motion Labor supports. However, we do oppose general business notice of motion No. 612 to be moved by Senator Pauline Hanson. We agree with the government's decision to deny formality because we think it is not appropriate to spend this Senate's time inciting division.
Colleagues, yesterday we heard a powerful contribution from our esteemed colleague Senator Dodson, and we have much to learn from him. Asserting black lives matter isn't saying that other lives do not matter. It is responding to a systemic structural problem where black lives are not given equal value. Those who want to reinforce that status quo, including white supremacists, have instead adopted the phrase that is used in Senator Hanson's motion.
We have seen also from this Prime Minister the kinds of carefully timed interventions and coded language that have been used in the United States that are designed to create tension but maintain plausible deniability. The dismissal of Indigenous Australians and those moved to act in their support as 'seeking to take advantage of these opportunities to push their political causes' is an echo of arguments used against demonstrators in the United States and also the language used to dismiss concerns, prevent progress and entrench discrimination for decades. Labor says this: standing against racism and discrimination is principled and it is just, and it should not be delegitimised in this way. I know the Prime Minister and President Trump have made much of what friends they are and how much they have in common, but there are some things we do not wish to import. Leaders must bring the community together, and this includes listening to our First Nations's voices in this country, which we have too often ignored.
3:38 pm
Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement of no longer than two minutes.
Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Unfortunately, we were not advised of the content or the fact that the contribution from the Leader of the Government in the Senate was even happening, so forgive my lack of preparation. I want to put our position on the record. We too were extremely concerned about the content of notice of motion No. 612 to be moved by that regular bringer of dissent into this place. It is completely sidelining the whole point of black lives matter and tries to delegitimise the issue. So we agree that that motion is totally inappropriate. We would have opposed it.
I note that the Labor Party were going to vote with us in support of our own notice of motion No. 604. That is a perfectly appropriate motion. We are concerned at the trend of this government disallowing from discussion certain matters in motions when they happen to be a little bit inconvenient for the government. So, whilst we support the fact that a divisive motion won't proceed, complex foreign policy matters—which seem to be determined at the whim of this government, because they bring their own so-called complex foreign policy matters whenever they like—are disallowed in this place and now it seems that the government can unilaterally decide that other motions can also be denied formality. So, whilst we won't object to the denial of formality to motion 612, I do want to note that we are concerned at this trend of the government unilaterally denying discussion in this chamber and putting it off to general business, which we all know happens on an infrequent basis and requires other machinations in order to get certain issues raised.
Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Do you want to raise a point of order, Senator Cormann?
Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I'm hesitant to jump up again, but just to make a brief correction, with the leave of the Senate, we are not disallowing consideration of these motions. We are asking for motions of this nature to be considered in general business when they can be more appropriately debated. We don't want to use this form of the expeditious mechanism when there are complexities involved.
Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I have allowed that clarification, but this is a period of statements by leave.
3:44 pm
Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I seek leave to make a short statement of two minutes.
Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
In the period of time that I have been in the Senate—four years—this is the first time I have ever seen this occur. The government, supported by Labor, the Greens and possibly even others—I don't know, they haven't mentioned whether they support it or not—are denying the formality of a notice of motion, my notice of motion, that all lives matter. I cannot believe that you are not prepared to put this to the vote in the notice of motions. If you are not prepared to put it to a vote, then the answer to that is you don't care about all lives matter. That's what it's about. Otherwise you would put it and you would vote on it, but you're stopping the formality with it. What are you so concerned about?
Our nation is made up of many different races of people but people have come together here to be Australians. It doesn't matter what happens in our society, everyone should be treated equally and the same based on their needs, not on race. So what is your problem? The people in this chamber are too bloody gutless to stand up for the people of this nation. All lives matter, and that is my point. Until you realise that and stop pushing your own agendas, we will not be doing service to the people of this nation—the Australian people looking at us as leaders of this nation. Stop dividing this nation.
Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I remind senators that the granting of formality is a gift for each of the 76 senators—abilities to deny or grant, as the case may be. I have been asked by the whips to try and deal with matters that might require divisions first up, so I am making my best guess.