Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I will try and ignore them, Mr Deputy President. I appreciate your keeping control of the Senate in that regard. I am just trying to make the point that we need the bill today. In the absence of a time management resolution, I am relying on the goodwill of the Senate, all of the Senate, to do that, and that means we have to have an understanding about the use of the time available. If people are not prepared to vote for a time management solution, we need to informally have an understanding about that. That does not have to be on the record. I am just making the point that otherwise we may well find that some of the people who seem not to be under any discipline in this place may talk and may prevent us bringing that matter to a conclusion tonight. That is the only point I want to make. If the view of the Senate is that the attempt by Senator Collins to have that time management included in the resolution will not be supported—and I think Senator Fifield's amendment will be supported, given what I caught of Senator Milne's contribution as I came into the chamber—I accept that that is the view of the Senate, but I do make the point that we will need the full cooperation of the Senate if we are not to find ourselves in the position where we run out of time. I just make that point very strongly because, in the absence of a time management mechanism, that is not always possible. Some senators, including the one who continually interjects now, are famous for not meeting the broader agreements that are reached around this place.