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

Labor's position is that we oppose the government's proposal to have extended hours tonight, particularly because of the way that this motion was formed. We have a motion before us that says that we will sit until the end. It leaves it open in that way. In many ways, this is extra pressure on the Senate. It is a threat to the Senate today, saying, 'We have brought on a bill and we have a process.' We know the situation. We know that the government have the numbers because we have read the papers and we know that a deal has been done. That is how it works. I am not saying that this is the only deal that has ever been negotiated in this place, particularly with crossbenchers. That is how the process works. But what we have today is a motion we have not seen before that has come in and says, 'This particular bill, which was not scheduled, is now coming through today and we are going to have an agreement by the Senate to sit until it has'—and I love this term—'"finally considered the bill".' It is a threat that says: 'If you want to ensure that the debate is fulsome, the pressure is on you. You can keep talking, but it will be until 2 am, 4 am or whatever.'

It is that to which we are objecting. We are objecting to the fact that this bill is being brought forward now. This bill has great intent in it and great issues to be considered, but why could they not be debated in standard Senate hours?

Why do we need, on the Thursday morning, to come in here and say: 'We actually have to move this forward tonight and we're going to sit as long as it takes, so it's up to you guys. Fold or close; that's how it is.' That is the threatening aspect to which I object, and to which we object.

They have whacked in a motion that says that we will just keep on working; there is no intent here, again, of having any break this evening where a break is a standard process—not so much for us, but for the people who work in the operations of the Senate. We come in here for a 9.30 am start with a proposal that we just work through the day for as long as it takes—which actually says 'you shut up' basically. There are elements around this that are about the important concerns we have about this bill, because it is not straightforward. There is complexity; there is difference of opinion. We expect that those things should be appropriately debated.

We are going to vote against this motion for extended hours and the way it operates. I want to put on record that we have made a number of calls for extended time in this place—extended hours tonight. Further down in the schedule today, we have a proposal to have more sitting hours. Again, as we have said, we can sit all the time, but come forward and talk about the urgency when you put this forward rather than saying, 'This is an important day for the Senate'. What is the urgency, the absolute urgency, about changing the scheduled hours that we have to ensure that we do not have the options to look at the consideration of the process in an extended way? There should not be this threat put to the Senate; there should be respect for the Senate processes. We should have the opportunity to have a debate, to ask questions, rather than have hanging over us an ultimatum that says, 'Tonight or never'. That is what we are opposed to.

We also want to put on record that this opposition has been consistently supportive of genuine urgent requests from the government to have extended time rather than what we heard the other day in debate, that we have not been. Check the Hansard to see what support this opposition has given when there have been proposals for genuine further consideration. This is not one of those; this is a proposal that says, 'We’ve got a deal done and we're going to push it through tonight and that will be the end of it.' I just do not understand how that allows the Senate to operate as it should—giving every senator the option of putting their thoughts and concerns, if they have any, about this process forward in an appropriate way. As it is, it is trial by fatigue: you go into the trenches and you hang around as long as you can until you finally cannot talk any more. And we are not talking— (Time expired)