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

I am surprised that Senator Parry is not speaking to the motion. Can I just make the point that we gave leave for this motion so as not to waste the time of the Senate with a suspension. I presume that Senator Parry is not speaking to it because he has the numbers. That is usually the reason when people keep it short.

I make the point that this effectively involves two issues. The first is the capacity of the government to order the business and determine the business that the Senate deals with. I am afraid that the opposition have given up on all prospect of ever being a government again, because they have adopted the attitude that seems to forget that there are requirements in this place for governments to be able to operate effectively. By supporting this sort of stunt, they give up, I think, the commitment to a perspective as an alternate government.

But the real issue is the question of whether or not we deal with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme bills this week. The Senate has known for months that those bills were to be called on. We have had a green paper, a white paper, no end of public discussion and inquiries both by Senate committees and by others that led us to the point of planning for a debate on the climate change and Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme bills in this sitting week.

It has been clear for some weeks now that the opposition are terrified about debating these bills because they are unable, as on so many other things, to reach a consensus inside their party room. They are deeply divided. The Senate committee reports again highlighted that division. That, quite frankly, is a problem for them. But they have a responsibility to the Australian people to come into the parliament and vote on these issues, particularly given that they went to the last election under a commitment to introduce a carbon pollution reduction scheme. They actually went to the last election, even under John Howard, committed to that stance, and they have since walked away from it because they are unable to deal with the divisions inside their party.

This comes down to a question about whether or not the Senate is going to debate the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill this week. We have a position in this parliament where the government does not have the majority, and we have a position where the opposition and some minor senators have determined to frustrate the government’s capacity to debate these bills. I have to say, at least to Senator Xenophon, that he was honest about it. He has said quite clearly that he does not want to debate them. I do not support his rationale. He wants more surveys, more inquiries, more reporting, but that is perfectly—