Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Again, as I said in this place when a similar motion was moved last time, the Labor Party is not supporting the amendment, though we do understand the concerns raised by Senator Siewert. We say again that these things should be discussed beforehand so that we have the open discussion about the family-friendly processes. But it has been our position that the government of the day has the right to determine the sitting pattern. That is the convention we follow. In making that statement, I say that we should have certainty around the sitting hours and, should there be any requests for extended hours or changes to that, it would only be under exceptional circumstances and there would need to be consideration of that at the time. On that basis, we are not supporting the Greens amendment and we are living by the longstanding convention of putting the onus on the government of the day to set the pattern.