Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I only want to be brief. As I indicated last time—I think a number of times—in response to the same speech, the amendments are there to both add an additional paragraph to and to clarify the legislation. But, in addition to that, the regulations are out for comment. If there are comments which go to these provisions, and people do want to provide additional material on the basis of those regulations, then comments are always well received and will be considered in due course. But we are talking about amendments at this point, and not the regulations.

Secondly, I want to highlight that we have now been spending three hours or therea­bouts in furious agreement on an amendment that we all agree with. At this rate I would hate to meet an amendment that we do not agree on and see how that affects the time it takes to pass this legislation. The amount of time-wasting by the opposition in relation to the carbon farming initiative bill is now going from the sublime to the ridiculous. We are spending an inordinate amount of time on matters other than the CFI legislation. It is disappointing to see the opposition dragging their heels in relation to a bill such as this. I am not trying to be provocative to those opposite. I am simply pointing out that this bill does need to pass. It is preventing farmers and the community from enjoying the benefits of this bill and being able to access the significant advantages under it.

I understand legislation does take some time to progress in the parliament, and I think I am known as a patient man when it comes to the passage of legislation and the ability to ensure that everyone can have an opportunity to have their particular matters heard. Having sat through yesterday, I am sure most who were in the chamber or watched the chamber would agree that much of it was not about this bill; much of it was not about the amendment that was before us. On that basis, if the opposition are going to continue to take that approach, it will be disappointing to the government that the opposition have gone this far. But I would like a flag as to whether or not the opposition will continue to take this approach for the remaining amendments. I do think the opposition does need the required time to be able to consider each individual amendment in a thoughtful and considered way—I do not quibble with that. However, I do want to flag that at some point we will need to finalise this bill. If the opposition can point to additional time or hours we might be able to consider, that would be helpful, because we do not want to be sitting here at Christmas time still on the carbon farming initiative bill—and at the rate we are going we could very well be.