Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I support the suspension of standing orders because a censure motion is a really serious motion. It is no support for, or defence of, Senator Nash for the government to refuse to take it on. It reinforces to the community that the government have plenty to hide—because they will not engage in the debate on the substantive issue of whether or not there is a case to be answered. Frankly, I find it extraordinary that in this debate it is Senator Nash who has been on her feet—rather than the Leader of the Government, to tell us why he has blocked a debate on such a substantive matter.

We will go to this debate on the substantive matter because the government is allowing the minister to dig a bigger and bigger hole for herself by allowing that to happen. I can tell you this: what we have now—

Government senators interjecting—