Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

He says they have all week—how much time has he set aside today for debate on this issue? How much time in the Notice Paper is set aside for debate on this issue? Are there even two hours set aside for debate on this issue today? I think you will find it falls short of even that. And when he says, 'We've got all week,' what that means is that if the next two days are anything like the paucity of time we have set aside today we will see the vast majority of members of parliament not being allowed to put their case on these bills—the vast majority of members of parliament not being allowed to have their voice even heard within the parliament.

Now, they have a big majority. They have a lot of members of that side of the House, and the Leader of the House kept referring to it. But there is a reason why they do not want to hear any of them speak. You wonder how many Jaymez Diazes are lurking over there who they want to make sure cannot be heard! You want to make sure how many members over there will give a first speech and then will be hidden under a rock—the invisibility cloak of the Minister for Immigration gets shared around on members of that side of the House.

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