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

Thank you. I only need a couple of minutes. I rise to say that there has been a great deal of mismanagement and time-wasting that has gone on. The Greens made our position clear; we ought not to be sitting for additional hours, but I accept that the will of the chamber is that we do so. I want to say I am disappointed that the proposal that we put, to have a half-hour dinner break, has not been agreed to, by either the government or the Labor opposition. It does affect Senate staff, and it particularly affects parties and Independents in here who do not have the additional back-up that perhaps the Liberal and Labor parties do. It would have been appropriate—if we were extending the sitting time until 10—for that to happen, and I am disappointed it has not happened.

In terms of the management of the chamber, I think there has been quite a learning curve for the government this year; if you want people to cooperate with you, then you have to treat people with respect and negotiate with them in a respectful manner, not come in here and abuse people and then expect people to sit down and be reasonable. As I said right from the beginning: the born-to-rule mentality that has gone on in this chamber, and the crash and crash through has meant chaotic management of the chamber as the government tries to cobble together the numbers and then get whatever they need through. Everybody is left in a state of confusion as to what is going to go on.

The Greens will cooperate with this but I have to say we will not be sitting on Thursday night or on Friday. We are not going to extend the time. We will sit this evening. But I reiterate that it would have been appropriate to have allowed people at least a half-hour break in the evening.

Question agreed to.