Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I will be eagerly watching to see if they are here. It will be interesting to see. We heard such pious comments from Senator Brown yesterday about the need to sit, so it will be very interesting to see whether Senator Brown is still here at 3 pm when the rest of us are. I heard a rumour that Senator Hanson-Young might be pursuing her leadership ambitions by getting down there too and getting her share of the spotlight on the television. But perhaps I wrong them both, and if I get a chance to say it at three o’clock and they are both here I will apologise to both of them because you can never believe rumours in this place.

But I do seriously ask the minister in closing the debate on this motion, should no-one else want to speak: what is the plan for today? Do you want these bills through? If so, can I suggest that you adopt the amendment I used yesterday, and that is that the Senate rise as soon as all of those bills have been dealt with, whenever that is. That will be a real test for Senator Brown and Senator Conroy, another Victorian. Perhaps we will be debating them at 11 o’clock tomorrow morning. That would be interesting if Senator Brown and Senator Hanson-Young could not be there. That is an alternative I urge upon the Manager of Government Business, that we do retain the Senate until such time as the particular piece of legislation is dealt with.

Here we go, the Labor-Greens alliance having a bit of a chat again. For those who cannot see it and who might be listening on this last day of parliament, we have Senator Brown and Senator Evans, the Labor-Green alliance, the Labor-Green coalition, in furious conversation over there, working out how Senator Brown can get down to Melbourne in time to play the media—