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

I move:

That, on Wednesday, 25 November 2009:

(a)

the hours of meeting shall be 9.30 am to 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm to 11.40 pm;

(b)

the routine of business from 7.30 pm shall be consideration of the government business order of the day relating to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 [No. 2] and 10 related bills; and

(c)

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

We are in the end of session week. It is usual to set additional hours to ensure that we can deal with the legislative program. Doing that does require the cooperation of the Senate as a whole. It is necessary to complete the work that we started on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The Senate will need to sit tonight to achieve that. The Leader of the Opposition has clearly indicated that the CPRS should be completed this week. This is the first step in that process and we will set hours which will provide clarity around what we can finalise tonight. It is my intention to also provide a notice of motion in consultation with the chamber to ensure we can use the remaining part of the week, that is Thursday and whatever additional hours we require, to finalise the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme this week. I foreshadow that.

I add that this will require the broad cooperation of the chamber to ensure that people do get sufficient time to deal with the legislation as indicated, and also to ensure that the staff in this place are provided with sufficient breaks. That is one of the matters we need to keep cognisant of to ensure this place works effectively and the program can be finalised as I have indicated. We also need the cooperation of senators to ensure that if other matters do come up such as ministerial statements, notices of motion and the like we can still find ourselves in a position—as much as possible—to finalise the debate by the end of this week.