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

Pursuant to contingent notice and at the request of the Leader of the Australian Greens, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent Senator Ludlam moving a motion relating to the conduct of the business of this Senate, namely a motion to give precedence to general business notice of motion No. 976 relating to the alleged bugging of the Timor-Leste cabinet rooms.

There is no reason why the government should have denied formality on this important motion. But if it is a debate that the government seeks to avoid we are going to bring the debate to this parliament nonetheless.

Last week, on 25 November, on the Lateline program, very important pieces of the puzzle around very serious allegations were put into the public domain, and that is what this motion concerns. The senior leadership of Timor-Leste are alleging that Australian ASIS agents planted listening devices inside the cabinet rooms in Dili in the middle of negotiations over the Timor gas fields. They allege that under the guise of an Australian foreign aid project, if we can believe that, helping to renovate the Palace of Government in Dili—