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

We will not vote against the government ordering the business as it wishes within the time frame that the Senate has allowed, but I reiterate what I said earlier. I note that Senator Ludwig said that after the committee stage of the CPRS legislation debate next week there will be time to deal with all of the other legislation. I would like him to explain what he meant by that. That seems to me to be totally fanciful. However, I repeat that we sent two letters to the Prime Minister and that we tried to get a proper scheduling of extra sitting weeks. It is possible that we may move to sit extra time next year to make up for the inability of the government to deal with legislation this year. I am not one, nor are the other Greens, to simply say that the Senate should do whatever the government wants it to do. This Senate is not a rubber stamp of the executive. The executive, as far as I am concerned, has not sought to negotiate with the Senate at any time this year a sitting schedule which could deal with the situation we are in.

The Greens will not oppose the government ordering its legislation within the time that is available for the government to deal with government business. However, we do see what the opposition is saying: that the youth allowance legislation is in some danger of not being dealt with by the Senate if it is left until after the CPRS legislation committee stage of the debate next week. If that happens, it will be on the government’s head. It is up to you to order your business within reason, within government time. But, beyond that, the government is already in difficulty with the Senate because it is trying to use truncated sitting times to get through what it wants without proper debate. We will not be supporting that.