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

I move:

That, on Tuesday, 17 November 2009:

(a)

the hours of meeting shall be 12.30 pm to 6.30 pm and 7 pm to 11.40 pm;

(b)

the routine of business from 7 pm shall be government business only; and

(c)

the question for the adjournment of the Senate shall be proposed at 11 pm.

The motion today is in order to facilitate debate on the carbon pollution reduction package of bills this week. All senators would be aware that the government and the opposition are actively and constructively seeking to reach agreement on a range of amendments on this package. While these negotiations continue, the Senate can complete the bulk of the second reading debate this week with the committee stage of the bill left to the later half of next week. As I understand it, there is a broad view that it is likely to need to be dealt with in the opposition party room in the next week. Of course, this will allow time for the negotiations to be completed and any agreement, should it be reached, to be considered by the opposition party room, as I have indicated, early next week. The Senate could then move to the committee stage after consideration of amendments by the opposition party room.

If necessary, the government is also prepared to extend the sitting hours next week to allow the committee stage to be finalised in that second week. The motion provides for additional hours only for this evening. If still more hours are required to allow senators to speak on the second reading debate, I could foreshadow that I will also be moving a motion for the usual extension on Thursday to provide for additional sitting hours on Thursday night. Perhaps, if required, we could also seek to utilise Friday. This is a usual matter that arises when we head towards the end of the sitting period.

With this timetable all senators will have the opportunity to speak on the second reading debate for the carbon pollution reduction package of bills. This allows the Senate a considerable amount of time to consider the CPRS package in second reading and next week the committee stage. It is important that the Senate is able to give proper consideration to this significant package of bills. It also provides time for other matters that are usually dealt with during this period to be programmed in.

The Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Evans, wrote to the Senate leaders and Senator Xenophon last week. He outlined the government’s intentions as to how the CPRS package would be managed in the remainder of 2009. No formal responses have been received to this letter, although I would note that Senator Brown has written seeking additional sitting hours. The government is seeking to implement the additional hours and the program that we have outlined in the correspondence. On the basis of the request from Senator Brown, I do hope that the Greens will be supporting this motion today. It would be consistent with the position that the Greens have sought which is to ensure that we can deal with the second reading debate for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and consistent with allowing additional hours for the Senate to debate it.

Providing additional hours for legislation is not uncommon in the Senate, particularly for significant packages, nor is it uncommon for the Senate to sit for additional hours at the end of a sitting period to accommodate debate on bills. Additional hours and days have proved to be a more successful method of focusing the Senate’s attention on government legislation at the end of sittings. If we were to add regular sitting days—and there is always that suggestion—we would find the days were largely taken up with, in part, machinery matters, matters that deal with notice of motions, matters that deal with MPIs with, in many circumstances, less than half of the time available allocated for government legislation before the chamber. Indeed, that is exactly what is occurring this week. The opposition has insisted in the last couple of sitting periods on having MPIs every day and it is indicating that it will continue this practice. It has provided additional speakers on bills and committee reports and also ensured that certain bills have extensive debate in the committee stage. In short, the view is that when you can provide a significant amount of time such as a Tuesday night to allow second reading debates then you can focus the Senate on dealing with the legislation. It also provides senators with a contemporaneous debate rather than a fragmented debate throughout the week.

It concerns me that the opposition may simply be seeking to waste the Senate’s time. The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Minchin, does not agree with his leader on climate change and it does concern me that we do need to get on with the debate of the CPRS. I would also seek Senator Brown’s assistance, along with that of Senator Xenophon and Senator Fielding, to ensure that we can allow the second reading debate on the CPRS legislation to be held this week.

This motion is of course up for open and transparent debate and I would ask all to support it. I commend the motion to extend the sitting hours to the Senate. It allows for a practical approach for the consideration of this CPRS package of bills so the Senate can, in its usual way, work through that package of bills as outlined. This is not an unusual package in terms of the hours and how we will proceed with this debate. It is something that we in opposition agreed to on many occasions with the previous government to be able to deal with large bills that had significant speaking lists in a way that ensured they got dealt with during the available time.