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

I am quite happy for there not to be a division, but my hearing was, and I will stand corrected, that the government did not support this motion. I am commenting on the government’s lack of support for a bill to be referred to a committee—very unusual behaviour. There is a very short time line, but the bill ought to go to a committee for a look. I have made it clear that I will be moving to suspend standing orders to have this bill debated in the Senate next week. The bill is about the misuse of government funds being prevented when the government moves to allocate millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money for advertising. I might say that I would have thought it is a bill that would have had government support, because just a couple of years ago Senator Wong, for example, was advocating almost exactly what this Greens bill would do—that is, have the Auditor-General watch over government advertising to make sure it is in the public interest. I am sure that we are going to hear from the government a better explanation than we have had today as to why it would oppose this bill being looked at by the committee, but I do not think it is good form.

Question agreed to.