Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I do not want to take too much time—and no, Senator Abetz, you do not need my personal permission, but it is worth putting some of the opposition's tactics on record. As I said, I will return to the issue of MPIs. No new information is being provided to debate by the opposition. Debate is not treated as an opportunity to outline alternative policies or savings. It is just a political discussion on the theme for that week. Yesterday's MPI was itself reckless and profligate. Yesterday's MPI was by its own definition the problem I am highlighting. Since the spring sittings the coalition have had 20 MPIs. This is 20 out of a possible 37 days, wasting 20 hours of time in the Senate on motions that are almost on the same topic—no creativity, repeating the same topic time and time again. In contrast the ALP in 2007 had only four MPIs in the entire sitting the year, eight in the entire 2006 sitting year.