Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I ask Senator Stephens, who has just sat down, whether it is true that the event celebrating the end of the registrar in Hobart has just concluded, that the registrar will not be there from now on and that the events of the court removing the registrar from Hobart are moving ahead of the parliamentary events here today and over the last several months. If that is so, it is a matter that should have been reported by the government. I think there needs to be a little bit better information coming to the Senate about the matter.

I just want to take Senator Stephens to task for her statement that this is a clumsy amendment. The amendment is sharp, it is direct, it says exactly what we mean it to say and it would, if passed, have the effect of retaining the registrar in Hobart. If Senator Stephens meant that it is clumsy to attach it to this particular legislation, let me inform the senator that that is the right and proper process in the Senate in government business. The alternative is to wait for private members’ time by introducing separate legislation. As Senator Stephens and her colleagues know very well, that is to consign it to the dustbin of total inaction because there is no way a private member’s bill would be brought to a debate and vote in this Senate before the next election. If we are to get proper action to save the registrar’s office in Hobart, there is no alternative but for us to amend a piece of legislation, as we are moving to amend this piece of legislation, tonight. It is the right and proper thing to do. It is not clumsy. It is time-honoured proper process.

The opposition has said that it deals with other members, including the Hon. Attorney-General, for whom I have a great deal of admiration, as do the rest of the Greens. The difference is that in the race to get something done about this we are not faltering near the finish line. We are putting forward an amendment which would come into effect tomorrow, which is appropriate seeing the district registrar had his last day today, to ensure that that office is kept.

Senator Milne is absolutely correct. In terms of amending another piece of legislation which Senator Brandis says may come up in coming weeks, I remind Senator Brandis there are only three weeks left of sittings on the Senate calendar. The legislation to which he refers will be reported upon by the committee in the Senate tomorrow and may or may not be in the non-controversial section later in the day. I have asked my staff to prepare an amendment for that piece of legislation in the sad anticipation that the coalition is not going to support the Greens amendment to save the registrar tonight, through this legislation.

I ask Senator Brandis: does he have an assurance from the Attorney-General that, amended in the way we anticipate—that is, to save the registrar—the Access to Justice (Civil Litigation Reforms) Amendment Bill will be dealt with in the Senate and the House before the next three weeks of sittings are exhausted? I ask Senator Stephens: on behalf of the government, will she give the Senate an assurance that that piece of legislation, with the intended amendment, will be dealt with by the Senate and by the House and passed into law before the end of the year?

We are all aware in here that there is one week of sitting in October and two weeks of sitting in November, and we are also all aware of the pressure of the legislative list. There are 20 or 30 pieces of legislation on the list as well, and that is not taking into account the return of the emissions trading scheme legislation, which is highly contentious and may well, of itself, take up many days of debate. I want to hear from the government—