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

Senator Abetz, you had your go. As I understand it the government was in a position to start at noon today—and still is, quite frankly. If it is the wish of the opposition to proceed with it today, we stand ready to proceed with it. As I understand it, we made a reasonable offer, given that the amendments have only been circulated today, so that the opposition could have an opportunity to examine those amendments—although the broad number and type would already have been understood, as I understand it. In that case the government was prepared to accede to that request and deal with the alcopops bills first, to allow the opposition time to deal with those amendments and provide a view, so that we could deal with the committee stage of the Fair Work Bill in a reasonable way and as expeditiously as possible so we could finalise the agenda for this week.

However, if the opposition now wish to change their view about this and do not want the available time to deal with the amendments so that we can start on the Fair Work Bill tomorrow, then we can start on the Fair Work Bill, if that is their wish. My understanding is that we are responding to what the opposition was seeking, but, as I said, we are quite happy to deal with it. But what we do not want is the opposition to say, ‘We need a little bit more time to deal with the amendments,’ and to then end up filibustering. It is about managing the chamber. The government has put a reasonable proposition to the opposition, the Greens and the two Independents so that we can focus our attention on the legislation in a proper way—unlike what I could call Senator Abetz’s spray in this place, which was not helpful. It did not ensure that the government, the opposition, the Greens and the two Independents are able to deal with the legislation. We have now had to burn time, it seems, while we deal with some spurious allegations that have been be raised by the opposition which are, as far as I am informed, not correct.

Therefore, I am looking for the opposition to say whether they intend to support this motion as a sensible way forward so that we can deal with the legislation in a sensible way. We do not intend to filibuster on any of the legislation. We want these bills dealt with as expeditiously as possible and as early as possible. These sets of bills are both crucial. One deals with alcopops and needs to be dealt with this week. For the second, we are proposing to ensure that the opposition, the Greens and the two Independents have sufficient time to deal with both the government amendments and their own amendments in committee in an expeditious way. On that basis, if Senator Abetz is joining us in this process, then we should be able to deal with this legislation early in the week, and that would certainly please the government.

This is a position that I am open to and it is the understanding that I had. If that has changed between this morning and now, then I am only too happy to be advised of that and we can deal with it. It is not the case—and I refute this—that this government does not stand ready to deal with both sets of bills, the Fair Work Bill and the alcopops bills, in any order that the opposition might want to proceed with them. The government is only minded to concede to that to ensure that every party can focus its attention on these bills in the appropriate way so that we do not delay but deal with these in an expeditious way.

Question agreed to.