Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

We read in the media about the interest that has been placed on this process. We have now heard that there is going to be a meeting of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee this afternoon to consider the process. We all know that, in the last sitting of this chamber, there was a motion passed by this Senate that there would be a consideration of this package of bills through the environment committee. There was a process put in place that there would be a report provided to this place on 14 July to allow there to be consideration of these issues. That process has not occurred.

We are here today, on the first sitting day of a new Senate, and we have a whole range of people in this place who have not had the opportunity to have any consideration of this legislation. The process that this Senate put in place was that there would be a committee process where we would have the opportunity to consider the range of issues that have occurred over the last period of months. We are not only looking at issues that were previously discussed in this place. The situation internationally and also nationally has changed considerably around the whole issue of this legislation about carbon pricing and the process that we are going to put in place to look at this significant range of legislation. That process has not occurred. There has not been the opportunity for people to put forward their views. There has not been the opportunity for people to listen to the range of views that we know are held, that continue to be held and that continue to be examined.

It is so important that we start together in this place with appropriate consideration of the legislation that is before us. We talk nobly about what should happen in this place. We heard this morning about the independence of the Senate and how important it is for every single senator to understand fully, to question and to be involved in the votes that they will take on legislation before the chamber. I do not believe, the opposition does not believe and many people in the community do not believe that that is allowed by the current process of bringing forward this package of legislation today, without a recommendation from the committee that was charged by the Senate to consider it, without an opportunity for people to have current evidence before them, although I know the government will say that there has been considerable process around these carbon bills.

It is important that there is considerable effort put into looking at this legislation that we have. It is not simple. It is complex. There are a range of issues here that we all need to understand and consider before we vote. There needs to be the opportunity in this place to have the process. We do not think it is appropriate, in the first matter of core business before us, to say: 'We'll bring the whole carbon tax legislation before this place, we will expect that that process will take place and we will go straight into the full debate without having the evidence from the committee that we set up.'

We consider that this is an important element of the operations of the Senate. We believe it is important for all of us to have the time and the opportunity to hear from not just each other across the august chamber of the Senate. It is not just a debate for us in this place. The important thing is that when we come here we come here we come with the information, concerns and support or otherwise of the people in the wider community who care deeply about this issue. Only this morning, outside this parliament, we had the opportunity to meet with a whole group of young people who have a passionate concern about the future of our environment and the future of carbon pricing in Australia. I believe that every senator in this place was provided with an invitation to go and meet with these young people about this legislation. We had that opportunity to go down there this morning. Some of us took it, and what we heard from the people there was that that it was our decision but their future.

We need to ensure that those voices are heard in this place, through the whole range of the committee process. That has not been completed. We have not had that process concluded. And yet we are here being asked to accept a blanket proposition from the government which says that the bills have to come through straightaway. I do not believe that has given us the chance to have the debate we need to have, not just here but outside.