George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The government will be opposing this motion. There is a sense in which for the Liberal and National parties every vote is a conscience vote in the sense that all members of the Liberal and National parties are always at liberty to vote at variance from their parties' agreed position. If they happen to be members of the front bench then they are expected to retire from the front bench if they wish to exercise that right, but that is a right they undoubtedly have. So it is inappropriate to describe what Senator Hanson-Young has in mind as conscience vote, though she did say in moving the motion a 'free' vote.

Whether or not a political party grants a free vote—in other words, gives its members liberty to vote at variance from the party's position—or indeed does not adopt a party position is entirely a matter for the domestic management of the political party. It is inappropriate and, frankly, not the Senate's business to interfere with the domestic management of a political party. (Time expired)