Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Selection of Bills Committee report and on Senator Fifield's amendment, and I do so with significant reservations and concerns. We have just heard from Senator Moore, the Manager of Opposition Business, how the opposition do not set the program; the government does. Yet I have to say, sitting through that committee meeting last night, it was very blatant, the way in which the opposition are trying to set the program by referring legislation to committees with reporting dates that are close to the end of this Senate and the deadline of 30 June. They are using that as a means to influence what we can and cannot debate in this place.

I think that is a great tragedy, because I know as Chief Government Whip and formerly Chief Opposition Whip last year that within the Selection of Bills Committee there was a tremendous will and professional approach to accommodate the wishes of all. When we were in opposition, if we disagreed to a committee reporting date—and there were some good reasons why we did—we would seek to compromise and accommodate the wishes of the then government and agree to a compromise date. At no stage in the Selection of Bills Committee these days is there a willingness or a professional approach to accommodate the will of all parties and discuss a compromise situation. An obstructionist approach is being taken by the opposition. The Greens' blind support for the opposition's position and, likewise, the opposition's blind support for the Greens are yet another demonstration that they are wholly owned subsidiaries of each other. I think that is a great shame for this Senate and a great shame for this country.

I will just go through a few numbers. After the meeting last night I sat down and did some arithmetic. It sounds impressive from the outside. There have been 180 days since the coalition was elected to government—and what a win that was. But those on the opposite side still do not accept that we won a huge majority and that there was a huge swing against Labor and the Greens. Since this parliament commenced on 12 November, 89 hours and 12 minutes have been spent on business other than government legislation. Of the 132 hours and 58 minutes that the Senate has been in session for the 44th Parliament, only 28 hours and 40 minutes—just under 29 hours—have been spent considering legislation. If you do not accept anything else, the facts do not lie.

The suggestion that the government is setting the legislative program—Mr President, I have to say through you: Senator Moore, you are very good at spin, because that in itself demonstrates the way in which you are biasing the legislation that we are dealing with. We saw it in the Senate yesterday, where there was a disgraceful attempt, a disgraceful stunt, to hijack debate in this place; we spent hours discussing and debating a censure motion that had no basis whatsoever. The matter had been prosecuted through estimates. A whole day of estimates was spent on asking questions about it. You wasted the Senate's time yesterday in bringing forward a censure motion, again using up time that could have been spent on government legislation. You are absolute hypocrites. You should look at Hansard to see what you said last year.