Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Hansard source

That is true—or the other end of the chamber, for that matter. The government has sought to unilaterally reorder business and behave in an arrogant manner after it has moved a gag on a previous piece of legislation. Now I get a note that says, ‘You’d better sit down because we’ve got to make sure this legislation is carried by two o’clock.’

It strikes me that one of the consequences of the government’s arrogance is that the legislative program may well be disrupted and they may not be able to achieve the ends that they seek. I say, however, that there is one more important factor than that: there should be an opportunity to raise with the government issues that go to fundamental questions of social justice. Your gags and your manipulations of the legislative program in this chamber ought not to prevent the work of this chamber being undertaken in a proper manner. So, recognising that you do need the bill through by two o’clock, I will continue my remarks on another occasion.