Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to support this important motion moved by Senator Abetz because it is important that when this Senate orders something, when this Senate requests something, when this Senate instructs that something should be done and the government of the day simply thumbs its nose at the Senate, there are consequences. That is the reality of the motion before us. It is about trying to ensure that the powers of the Senate actually come with consequences if the government chooses to simply ignore those powers of the Senate, ignore those wishes of the Senate, ignore those orders of the Senate. That is why this motion is important. It is critical because it is about the Senate having made a statement yesterday, a very clear statement, that the Senate believes the government should table for our consideration and for the consideration of all Australians two particular documents: the NBN business plan, which the government admits it received last week, and the government’s response to the McKinsey and KPMG implementation study into the NBN. These are two documents that we believe are critical to informing the debate on the legislation that Senator Lundy was just talking about, on the legislation that is listed as the first item of government business for today. And the government wants us to stroll into that debate without the type of information that should be available to all senators to ensure we have the most considered and informed debate possible. That is what we want. We want to have a genuine, serious, considered and informed debate. Senator Lundy shakes her head. I say to Senator Lundy and to Senator Conroy: table the documents.