Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I have some questions as well, but I just want to note, for those who might be observing this debate from outside the building, that this is the most extraordinary abuse of Senate procedure that I have seen since I have been in here. This is the stage of the bill where senators from the government side or the crossbenchers or the opposition get to put reasonable questions to the minister about the operation of the bill in practice. This is not a trivial bill that we are debating. This is the third in a series of national security bills that the government has brought forward with very little explanation that has provoked, I would say, very strong consternation and opposition in people who follow human rights closely—people who care about the operation of the law in this country and the way in which our civil liberties are protected. And the Attorney-General—the first law officer of the country—is treating this chamber with profound contempt. There is nothing unreasonable, Senator Brandis, in anything that Senator Wright has put to you this afternoon. They are reasonable questions that have been asked not just by the Greens but by people who made submissions to the parliamentary joint committee—people who have been observing the way that this bill has run through parliamentary process. They are entirely reasonable questions, and I would seek at the outset an explanation from the minister—maybe just to short-circuit this debate and save us all a bit of time. Does the minister intend to answer any questions put to him from any MPs on the operation of this bill? I see he is maybe even going to dignify us with an answer, so let us start with that: does the minister intend to grace us with any answers to any questions at all this afternoon?