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

by leave—We are now in the last two weeks of this sitting period. During this period we usually, through a leaders and whips process, ask for additional sitting hours so we can deal with the legislation that is before us. The amount of legislation that we have to deal with is not insubstantial, and we would like to set additional hours to ensure we can finalise the business by some time towards the end of next week. That will provide certainty to the government and to those on the opposition, the minor and the Independent benches about what those hours will be and what times they will be expected to be here to deal with the legislative agenda. We can also deal with the proposed bills that will come up because we can then schedule, and people can cut their cloth in their contributions to the bills accordingly.

At this juncture we are at what I call a ‘slight stalemate’. The view of the government is that we would like to sit additional hours this evening. There are substantive bills to be dealt with, including the fair work legislation. From the government’s perspective, we would like to use this evening to conclude the committee stage of that debate. However, at the moment we do not appear to have an agreement to sit additional hours. I could seek to move a motion and have a debate about this particular issue now, but I do not think that would be helpful. There is an understanding—as I understand it, but I am happy for the Manager of Opposition Business to contribute to this short statement as well—that we will indicate by this afternoon whether or not we judge that we can finish the relevant legislation for today and towards the end of the week within reasonable hours.

My understanding is that the opposition is minded to participate in that and is willing to cooperate to the extent possible to deal with budget bills and the like. There is a further issue about broader bills within budget bills and those other bills that are on the program that the government wants to progress during this sitting week and next week. I understand the opposition’s position, but the government does find itself in a position of pressing for those additional hours to ensure that those bills can be debated and dealt with in a way that suits all present and so that everyone can contribute to the debate. If that means that I defer moving the motion asking for additional hours until this afternoon, I will do that, but I thought it was incumbent upon the government to at least flag that there may be additional hours tonight so that the whips can deal with that as well. Of course, the Senate will determine whether we do sit late tonight. Hopefully we will be able to reach an agreement, which is always a much better position to arrive at.