John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is another Senate sitting day and another predictable matter of public importance. This time the opposition has asked us to debate:

The failure of the Gillard Government to focus on the business of governing.

In order for us to debate this matter of public importance an hour of the Senate's valuable time to consider government legislation has been lost. I predict that not a word of the desultory opposition contributions in this debate from Senator Nash, yourself, Mr Acting Deputy President, and Senator Smith will be worth reporting on the news bulletins tonight. In fact, I predict that this debate will amount to nothing more than yet another waste of the Senate's valuable time.

We have only eight sitting days left of the 43rd Parliament. The opposition could play a more responsible role. The opposition could make a more serious contribution to the work of the Senate. As you know, Mr Acting Deputy President, the Senate workload is immense. A cursory read of today's Senate Notice Paper shows that government bills number 27. According to today's Order of Business the number of bills to be introduced this Monday is another 41. Even with Senator Sinodinos's rudimentary arithmetic skills, I think, he could even work out that that makes the total number of bills to be dealt with a whopping 68 bills.