Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

One week! Sorry, I was being too generous. One week of inquiry by one committee on a package of 19 bills which will have the most far-reaching effects on the Australian economy. One week, Mr Deputy President. I can see you are incredulous, but it is true.

Those opposite have proposed, and we will now have, an extra sitting week in the Senate to scrutinise this legislation. That is meant to demonstrate how committed they are to scrutiny, but it is a pretty weird approach where you say, 'We are going to give you an extra week but we are going to guillotine debate.' How does that work? You give with one hand and take with the other. We are against that extra week because, again, we would be complicit in the facilitation of the breach of an election commitment. And one week is not enough anyway. This legislation should be looked at for a minimum of four or five months. That is what should happen if we are to perform our duty as legislators—something which those opposite do not have the slightest interest in.

We all know what should actually happened—that is, those opposite should withdraw this motion, they should withdraw the subsequent motion on exempting these bills from the cut-off and they should discharge this legislation from the parliament. They should then have the Prime Minister go to Yarralumla—in fact, that might suit her at the moment as she might avoid something which may or may not take place in a few weeks—and she should say to the Governor-General: 'I have made a bit of a blue, a bit of a blunder. I told a fib to the Australian people. They're not happy about it. It would be unconscionable for me to continue to pursue this legislation through the Australian parliament. Therefore, Governor-General, I'm asking you for an election because I think the Australian people deserve to have their say on the carbon tax.' I think the current situation, where the government is completely incapable of governing—not through any fault, I might say, of the opposition. If anything, we are probably a little too cooperative at times for our own good. So, no fault of the opposition—