Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

You do not even know the start date for these bills. The government have got no idea so they are desperate for a distraction right now. Unfortunately, to cover their embarrassment they can now call on their new besties the Greens. The government have failed to make the case on these bills. It is a simple fact that not one government member who spoke in this debate in this chamber made the case for why these need to go through the cut-off.

We do know that, due to the filthy deal that has been done between the Greens and this government, we are going to a double-D on 2 July, because what we have had is the turkeys vote for an early Christmas. Senator Cormann is smooth. He has actually talked them into voting for their own execution. That is good. Paul Keating once said: in politics always back self-interest. These guys have voted for their own execution. It did take some special expertise by Senator Cormann on this.