Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Higgins for an opportunity to talk about the work of the chamber and the rare opportunity, as Leader of the House, to talk about some of the seating arrangements within the chamber—not an issue that I often get to discuss.

On the work of the chamber, there is the important role of the chamber in bringing people together. There is a fundamentally important role of the chamber in bringing people together, and I do want to acknowledge the conversations that have happened, including with the crossbench, on making sure that we find opportunities within this House to be able to perform the leadership role of bringing people together at a time where there is so much difficulty across the country. I want to acknowledge that with respect to the work of the chamber.

With respect to seating arrangements, the seating arrangements have changed significantly during this term.

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