Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

We want to do the work; you want to go home and have your weekend off. We actually say this is urgent. We actually say it is important. We say, ‘Let’s deal with what is important, let’s deal with what is urgent now and for the bills that are less urgent—while they have high priority and we absolutely need to get them through next week—let’s take up the offer and deal with those next week.’ We want to make sure the Senate gets the chance to scrutinise those bills—we are happy to cooperate—but, regarding the bills that relate to payments for families, we need them ASAP. We want you to deal with those bills. We have to get right the balance between scrutiny and the urgency of the situation.

I sought the cooperation of the coalition and I did not get it. I got scoffed at. They said: ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ve got plenty of time. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about trying to get payments to families to support the economy. Don’t worry about trying to allow small business the opportunity to survive. We don’t care about jobs. There’s not really a problem.’ We say there is a problem, we say there is urgency and we would like you to reconsider. In this debate we want you to come to a position which says: ‘We will allow the parliament to sit as long as it takes to pass the bills that are urgent. We will come back next week, we will have the Senate inquiry and we will deal with those more complex bills then.’ That is what we would like. We are happy to have the scrutiny, we are happy to give you the time, but we would also like you to work Friday and maybe Saturday.