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

Mr President, I must start by noting that interjection. The government are so keen to get legislation passed they are seeking to move a motion to guillotine debate. There is a slight inconsistency there.

As I mentioned in the earlier procedural debate, this motion seeks to mire two important issues in grubby partisanship. It seeks to sully the NDIS debate by giving precedence to the government's package of media bills. I would have thought that if there was a piece of legislation that deserved to be considered on its merits—that deserved all the opportunities that this forum provides for discussion and debate—it would be the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Indeed, it has been a matter of some pride for all those around the chamber that the proposition of legislation for a National Disability Insurance Scheme is something that could demonstrate the Australian parliamentary and political system at its very best to the Australian people—where all parties come together to say that there is an issue, a cause, that is bigger than ourselves and the parliament, and that the need to deliver a new deal for Australians with disability is so great.

That has been the experience to date. That was very much the tone and theme in the other place when they were debating the NDIS legislation. There were no restrictions on debate in the other place. There was no effort to curtail examination in the other place. There was no attempt to limit the airing of views of stakeholders in relation to the NDIS in the other place. I have taken some pride in the fact that we in the Australian Senate tend to be a little more respectful of the processes of this parliament, that we tend to defend more vigorously the role of parliamentary committees and the committee stage for bills in this place. But what we see in the motion before us is a pure, simple, naked guillotine.