Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Of course, the government doesn't agree to the suspension of standing orders. We have important business to be getting on with in the House of Representatives, and that's exactly what we intend to do.

The House this morning dealt with the legislation around strawberries to protect Australian consumers and families, and I really welcome the bipartisan approach that the House offered to the very important legislation that the Attorney-General presented and passed this morning. As people would know, it was an unorthodox approach to bring legislation into the parliament and then not let it sit on the table. So I do thank the Labor Party and the crossbenchers for ensuring that what has been a harrowing period for people in the strawberry industry has been addressed by the government as best as we can in one morning of debate in the House of Representatives. But it's an example of what we need to be doing in the parliament—getting on with the business of government.

We are only halfway through the introductions of legislation. In fact, I think the Minister for Home Affairs had introduced a bill. We have significant bills that need to be introduced and passed by the House of Representatives over the course of the spring session: the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Student Protection) Bill 2018, the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2018, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Sure Foreign Investors Pay Their Fair Share of Tax in Australia and Other Measures) Bill 2018, the Income Tax (Managed Investment Trust Withholding Tax) Amendment Bill 2018, the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Sovereign Entities) Bill 2018, and so on. There is a long list of bill introductions today.

See this speech in context