George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy—who, as viewers of Sky News would be aware, makes a habit of being ignorant of the content of his own legislation—is unaware, evidently, that the bill that was on the Notice Paper a year ago, which bears the same name as the bill currently before the chamber, is entirely different. It was a different bill with the same name—not the same bill. Even a person of Senator Conroy’s limited intelligence could understand that the fact that a bill bears the same name as an earlier bill does not make it the same bill. Senator Conroy is evidently entirely unaware of the fact that the claim he made on Lateline last night was false. It seems that it is Lateline, one, Sky News Agenda, one, when it comes to exposing the ignorance of the minister.

That having been said, the opposition is determined to ensure that there is proper scrutiny of this legislation. So we propose that the order of business be amended so that the Senate sits on Saturday and so that all of the time allowed for sitting tomorrow—not just the time until noon—be allowed for deliberation in the Senate on this bill. We know what the government’s game is. The government’s game is to conceal from parliamentary scrutiny this legislation, just as they have concealed from parliamentary scrutiny the business case. (Time expired)