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

I have articulated the nub of the debate a couple of times this morning and I will not take up the full time allotted me. We need to get onto Senate work. Let me make this statement right at the outset and then I will deal in short form with the content of the debate: this is Senate obstructionism, clear and simple. The opposition are simply blocking the legislative program of the Senate. They have hijacked the Senate to allow this mad debate to proceed. It is a silly position that the opposition have adopted. I am sorry that the Greens have brought themselves into it as well. Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon might try to hide behind it as a serious debate about forcing the government to negotiate, but it could only fairly be described as a political stunt.

Let me correct the record. Senator Cormann knows that the public hospital system does not access the MBS. He was referring to the hospital system. He knows that he was in fact misleading—