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

I move:

That the government business orders of the day listed on pages 3 and 4 of today’s Order of Business, under the heading “At 12.45 pm” be considered from 12.45 pm till not later than 2 pm today.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That the order of general business for consideration today be as follows:

(a)

general business orders of the day:No. 25––Protecting Children from Junk Food Advertising (Broadcasting Amendment) Bill 2008,No. 76––Renewable Energy Amendment (Feed-in-Tariff for Electricity) Bill 2008, andNo. 63––Building and Construction Industry (Restoring Workplace Rights) Bill 2008; and

(b)

orders of the day relating to government documents.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That government business notice of motion no. 1, relating to varying the hours of meeting and routine of business for today, be postponed to a later hour of the day.

I seek leave to speak to that for a moment.

Leave granted.

That item on the notice paper would indicate that there are extended hours for today and tomorrow. I think we can rule out tomorrow, just so that everyone understands. In respect of the hours for today, that will be considered later on today; we may seek additional hours. I think the opposition understand that, but it is worthwhile to ensure that everyone in the chamber is aware of that. There are a range of bills that we as a government do need to get through to allow us to complete the program for next week by next week, and therefore I would be seeking agreement later on today to arrange the hours so that we can complete the relevant business for today. There is, I guess, an expectation that we may finish those bills by an early mark today, or at least by a reasonable time. I do not intend to seek late hours tonight; I do expect that we can try to, with cooperation, achieve those bills by a reasonable hour.