Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My apologies, Mr Acting Deputy President. What the Liberals should do is guarantee that they will commit to making sure that there are quorums on these committees. It is clear that they will set them up; it is clear that they will have the chair positions; it is clear that they will then provide the largesse of the deputy chair to whomever they choose. If that is going to be the case they should give a guarantee today that they will meet the quorum requirements, they will participate in those committees and they will go to those committees. If they do not go to those committees, they should then immediately abandon the committee and recognise the fact that they did not supply quorums to those committees. And they should let us know today that that is in fact what they are going to do.

When the Liberals took control of the Senate we saw a massive increase of the then government’s share of allocated questions in question time. Quite frankly, they have tilted it in their favour again. Every time you see the Liberals use their numbers, it is not about ensuring the Senate reviews legislation from the House, it is not about ensuring proper scrutiny; it is about tilting the balance in their favour, it is about using their numbers in this place to crunch it through. You saw that when they then massively increased their share of questions in question time. You also saw that there was a massive 400 per cent increase in their rejection of proposed inquiries for reference committees in the same period. So they then said, ‘We will say no to broad references to standing committees.’ There was a 400 per cent increase in the ‘no’ vote. So these motions for references to appropriate committees that the then opposition wanted to get up were denied. What you now have is the Liberals using a parallel system to achieve a parallel process, because they do not have the numbers on the standing committees.

When the Liberals were in government the length of the inquiries crashed, because they did not want scrutiny. The average length of the inquiries had nearly a full two weeks shaved off, from 39 days to just over 27 days. And that does not highlight the special committees such as the Telstra inquiry, which was a one-day special inquiry, or the industrial relations inquiry, which was a very short inquiry—because, where there were big matters to be examined, they did not want examination. Finally, we saw debate after debate being gagged or guillotined on the most important issue facing Australians: Work Choices. The Liberals took the drastic and draconian step of cutting off debate and refusing to let the Senate properly consider the impact of that legislation on Australian working families.

That is the Liberal record in this place. And they stand here hypocritically, saying, ‘We’re all about open and accountable government; we’re all about scrutiny and review in this place.’ It is hypocritical for the opposition, the Liberals, to stand here and argue that in the face of what they did when they had the numbers and they were in government, and what they are doing now in opposition while they still have the numbers to be able to crunch through these inquiries where select committees are not called for. In the same way we have made another change to the committee system within about 24 hours. They know that we are coming to the end of this session. They know that the winter recess is facing us. So they have then said, ‘Whoops; we had better throw in two more select committees to make sure that they continue—