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

I move:

That—

(1) On Tuesday, 20 November 2012:

(a) the hours of meeting shall be 11 am to 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm to adjournment;

(b) the routine of business from not later than 7.30 pm shall be government business only; and

(c) the question for the adjournment of the Senate shall be proposed at 10 pm.

(2) On Thursday, 22 November 2012:

(a) the hours of meeting shall be 9.30 am to 6 pm and 7 pm to 10.40 pm;

(b) divisions may take place after 4.30 pm;

(c) consideration of committee reports, government responses and Auditor-General’s reports shall not be proceeded with;

(d) the routine of business from not later than 7 pm shall be government business only; and

(e) the question for the adjournment of the Senate shall be proposed at 10 pm.

I commence by acknowledging that there has been considerable cooperation on debate of legislation in these Spring sittings. The Senate has dealt with several packages with very tight implementation deadlines in the past few months. Though the different packages have not necessarily been supported by all of the chamber, the chamber has worked effectively to deal with these packages.

I had hoped that we could continue to work effectively to deliver the remainder of the government's legislative program for this year, with some additional agreed hours for this week and the next; but, unfortunately, it seems this will not be possible.

I note that while the Greens and Senators Madigan and Xenophon are supportive of the relatively minor increase in hours set out in this motion, the opposition is not prepared to support this motion today. I regret that this is the case, as I do believe that there is capacity for the chamber to reach agreement on reasonable ways to handle the government's legislative program with minimal disruption to senators and their work outside the chamber. Providing some additional hours for government business in two evenings this week is an effective way of achieving this. I note that agreement on a schedule of non-controversial legislation for Thursdays, including the various bills listed for passage in the timeslot this Thursday, demonstrates that cooperation is possible. Again I place on record that the government appreciates this cooperation and seeks to extend it with this motion for additional hours.

The additional hours as set out in the motion are not excessive. They provide an additional five or so hours of government business time this week. The motion does not seek to curtail opportunities for general business and it seeks to trim just small amounts of time on government documents. This debate time is routinely not used or not used to its full extent. It is very typical for the Senate to provide for additional time to handle government legislation at this stage of the sittings. I believe that the additional hours in this motion are moderate. This is a reasonable approach to adding to government business time in the second-last week of the sittings for 2012, and I commend the motion to the chamber.