Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Back to the topic. The point I am making is that this chamber only works if there is give and take—if people understand where everyone is going but allow things to move. If this motion is passed, the committee on the Clive Palmer inquiry into the Newman government, which was scheduled to meet at five o'clock tonight, may not be able to proceed. That would be a shame, although I am not quite sure what the purpose of that meeting is tonight. It is supposedly setting a witness list for two days hence, and of course nobody knows who the proposed witnesses are, because to disclose that would be a disclosure of the private business of the committee. So it is not the secretariat. The senator would have told the prospective witnesses that they were going to be called on Friday, so they are not going to know about it, and I do not understand how they are going to get there to give evidence with less than a day's notice. I only mention that to say: unless you do the give and take across the board and do not set up stupid arrangements, like the Clive Palmer inquiry into Queensland or the motion before us now, this chamber simply will not work.

I notice paragraph (4) of this particular motion says that the Senate will sit until it is dealt with. We have heard it is a very, very important piece of government legislation or regulation. It is something that, if it is going to be changed holus-bolus or even substantially, it needs a lot of discussion. I imagine that the discussion today will continue into the early hours of the morning and perhaps even into tomorrow.