Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—We understand that this is the first time that the Senate has commenced at the same time as the House of Representatives, so there is obviously a delay in the message coming across from the House of Representatives. We understand that the message is very close. If it would be more convenient, we would agree to a very short suspension, five minutes or less, on the basis that we on this side cannot proceed with the debate on the Telecommunications Interception and Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2010. Our leading speaker is Senator Brandis. We always have shadow cabinet at this time. The shadow cabinet understand there are no divisions until 12.30 pm, so they will not be attending the chamber. Therefore, if we know the message is fairly close, I think it would be a more suitable outcome to commence the bills that everyone has lined up to speak on. Otherwise, if the government wishes to commence with the telecommunications interception and intelligence services legislation, I suggest that we have only one speaker and interrupt at the end of that speaker to move to the scheduled legislation.