Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business says that never happened. He went on radio and said that that would happen, as did the Leader of the Opposition, as did other members of the frontbench—the so-called family-friendly party, out there exposed for all to see for the gross opportunists that they are.

What this motion before the House does is give that certainty for people. It should be supported by the parliament. It provides for an orderly process whereby every member will be able to participate. I repeat for the Manager of Opposition Business: we are prepared to sit extra hours in the parliament if required for people to speak before the parliament—unlike the way that they dealt with Work Choices, the war on Iraq, the Tampa legislation; all of those serious issues. We are ensuring, one month ahead, that there is a proper process. Indeed, I gave notice of this process, that this was the way we would proceed, in a press conference more than a week ago—last Tuesday morning. And, indeed, I had discussions with the opposition, which is more than was ever accorded to me when I was Manager of Opposition Business, when I had one conversation with the then Leader of the House over an entire term of parliament—one conversation about any process that was occurring before this House.

What occurred under the former government was that they would come in, move the first reading, move the second reading and move immediately through to deal with debate, without adjourning it at all, and then just crunch and guillotine the debate. That was the way those opposite dealt with parliamentary processes and the rights to participate. We are a different government. We are a government that supports transparency, that supports openness, that supports participation and that supports a proper process. We believe that through proper processes you get better outcomes. That is why we have put together this motion that is before the House, and I commend it to the House.

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