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

Again Senator Cormann pre-empts me. Could there be a deal in place? I look innocently down the Notice Paper and see propositions such as Australian Greens being on the Senate Standing Committee of Privileges. I am not seeking for a second to join those two things together, because I would not think for a moment that the government would be party to a deal that would see the Australian Greens come onto the Senate privileges committee in order to get their support for a gag bill. I would not believe that for a second. But I do have cause for concern, as I see Senator Collins walking back down the chamber from consultations with Senator Milne, that perhaps that is an indication that the fix is now in. I hope my fears about what the Greens may do in the vote on this motion prove to be completely unfounded and that the Greens' fine words about parliamentary scrutiny and parliamentary process will live on as statements of virtue, but I have my doubts.

I started my remarks by saying that this motion represents two things. The first is arrogance on the part of the government as it seeks to deny this chamber its role and responsibility in appropriately scrutinising legislation. The second is that this motion is also a manifestation of the incompetence of this government and of its inability to manage the legislative program. The election date, as you know, Mr Acting Deputy President Marshall, was set at the beginning of this year. So the government has known for the entire year exactly how many sitting days it would have in which to pursue its legislative agenda. There has not been a government that has had greater certainty about the boundaries it had to operate within to give effect to its legislative agenda. The only explanation as to why the government has been unable to do so, when you have an opposition that has been incredibly cooperative in the passage of legislation through this place, is just sheer and utter incompetence. Who would seek to push 55 bills through the Senate chamber in one week? And these are not 55 pieces of noncontroversial legislation. There are listed many, many bills that are matters of great controversy, such as the government's intention to make life much more difficult for Australian businesses that cannot find workers with the appropriate skills to avail themselves of 457 visas. That is a matter of great national interest that deserves proper debate and proper scrutiny. The Australian Education Bill is a matter of great public interest and some controversy that deserves proper public scrutiny. The private health insurance lifetime cover legislation is a matter of great controversy that deserves scrutiny and that deserves debate in this place. There are a number of tax bills listed as well. I have no doubt that we are going to hear something from Senator Cormann about those over the next few days.

The government should rethink this motion. It does no credit to the government; it does no credit to the Australian Labor Party; and if it is passed by this chamber it will do no credit to the Australian Senate, because it will say that this government and a majority of senators in this place do not think that the Australian people deserve to have 55 pieces of legislation receive the scrutiny and debate that they are entitled to.

This is not a matter of government versus opposition, ultimately; this is a matter of how this chamber views itself and how this chamber views its role. Does this chamber see itself as a sausage factory? Does it see itself as a rubber stamp? Does it see itself as a mere convenience for the governing alliance of the day? Or does it see itself as a house of review: as a place where senators pause, read, debate and ask questions? The answer to that question will be in the votes of senators, here, today. I urge all senators to vote against this motion—to reject it and uphold the standards of this place.