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

I want to add to the remarks of Senator Moore. This morning I opposed the rearrangement of business and I say exactly the same thing again. We now have a situation where the government, it seems, is prepared to do the bidding of certain parties in the Senate but not others. I would like an undertaking from the government that, if the Greens come in here and decide we do not want to deal with any of this legislation, it will rearrange the business accordingly. It would seem that all that is required is that certain members or certain sections of the parliament just come into the Senate and say, 'We're not prepared to deal with that today,' and the government says, 'Okay, we'll jump. How high?' Then they just come in and change the business for the second time in one day. If this is how we are going to run the Senate, then it has to be fair and equal for everyone; it should be that, if anyone is not happy to debate a matter, we just have it moved. If that is how it is going to be, it is going to be chaotic. What we know here is that the government is clearly not in charge and is doing the bidding of other sections in the Senate. It is an unworkable arrangement that gives no certainty to anyone in planning their work for the day. I say again that it seems extraordinary that we come in here in the morning and rearrange the business and then rearrange it again now. We still do not know why the health bills are not coming on. They were clearly on the Notice Paper. Why aren't they coming on? Perhaps the Manager of Government Business in the Senate can tell us why they have suddenly rearranged the business again and whether this is going to be something that is done for certain sections of the Senate but not others.