Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to point out that we are now at the end of private members' business in the House, yet we have a motion to suspend standing orders to debate an issue which is already listed on the Notice Paper to be debated in the Federation Chamber later today. The only thing that this debate right now is serving to do is to delay the government—indeed, the whole parliament—from being able to proceed with very important legislation, such as legislation to close loopholes in our industrial relations system to protect workers, legislation to protect the future of the Murray-Darling system, and legislation on greenhouse and energy minimum standards. You would think these would be things that members of the Greens political party, of all people, would want to see the parliament deal with.

Instead, we have grandstanding by the member for Griffith, who is listed as someone who will be debating this very topic in the Federation Chamber later today. Any of the issues he cares to raise through a suspension of standing orders motion he could deal with in his contribution to the debate in the Federation Chamber, but somehow they don't understand how this system of parliamentary democracy works. The opportunity to speak on this issue is already available today, on this important anniversary. Whatever issues they may wish to raise in relation to it could be raised in the contribution to that debate, which is already listed to occur today. For that reason, the government will not be supporting the proposal to suspend standing orders now.

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