Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

They were. I think those who oppose these proposed reforms by the government ignore a number of issues. They ignore not only the history of the matter but also the fact that we will continue to have estimates hearings. We will continue to have four weeks of estimates hearings every year. That is a fact. That remains as is. There have been those who have suggested that, in some way, the scrutiny of the Senate will be diminished because of this change. Estimates hearings, I would suggest, are perhaps the most crucial part of Senate scrutiny—and they will remain as is. The Senate will also continue to have a full question time. If one looks at the statistics, one can see that, of the just over 1,000 questions put to ministers, 800 were asked by non-government senators. That is hardly a reduction in accountability by the Senate.

I have dealt with estimates hearings and question time, and there is of course the debates in the Senate. Of the 29 longest debates we have had in relation to bills that have been dealt with in the Senate, 14 of them were Howard government bills. That demonstrates the time that has been allowed for the debate of bills in the Senate chamber.

We have also seen continued reference to Senate committees of issues and legislation. When you look at the reference of matters to committees, you see that even with a Senate majority the Howard government has continued to refer legitimate issues to Senate committees—71 bills and 15 other issues have been referred in the past 12 months. In fact, in the first six months of this year we have referred more bills to committees than the Labor government did in each of the years of 1991, 1993 and 1995. That is under a government that has a majority, and under a government which is supposedly neutering the effect of the Senate and the accountability regime of the Senate. It is a government which the opposition and others have termed as arrogant and intent on reducing the Senate’s role.