Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am being heckled by the other side—this is a very emotional issue for me. All senators need to have the opportunity that I will be so cruelly denied if this motion is supported. I say this not just because it affects me personally, not just because I had something that I thought was very important—and I have mentioned that before: the praise of Senator Claire Moore for her stoic defence of truth and justice and enlightenment. This is not just about me. I know other senators who also had senators' statements to make today. They had statements about their constituents. I do not think any of them were going to be praising Senator Moore quite as solidly as I was going to be, but I know that some other senators did have various things to talk about, such as the tactics of the Labor Party. Those things are important to public life, as are FoFA reforms. There is a time and a place to have these debates but, as the minister said, the time and probably the place to really have this discussion and this debate is when people can plan for it and prepare for it, not when there is some sort of malicious hijacking of due process, not when there is some surprise attack or stealth manoeuvre; not when you have a gang of Independent senators who just pop up with Senator Dastyari pulling their strings. That is what I saw on the TV today. Senator Dastyari's time of pulling strings was done when he was moved on from Sussex Street—he was demoted to the Senate, in Labor Party terms.