Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

The statement of fact I made is that there has not been 20 hours of a second reading consideration in relation to this bill. Another pretence from the minister is his perpetual reference to one Labor member as justification for the government's case because he cannot argue a sensible case. The reason we have not had the department up here before the committee is that his own department cannot argue that case. When you look at the report of the sham committee process, they even confect arguments for matters that are not even on the public record to justify the position that the government has taken.

If we are forced to, we will go into all of this in minute detail during the committee stage consideration. I will indeed have many questions, through the minister, for the department about matters that were not addressed during the committee inquiry. I will even deal with Senator Rhiannon's matters, if she does not do so. We will ask the questions that need to be addressed. We will give this matter the proper scrutiny it should have.

To pretend that a sham inquiry—that would not even allow the department to appear before members and senators so that we could ask them sensible questions about this legislation—is an appropriate consideration is a joke. But to then go on—as the Greens have too—and say, 'Through legislation by attrition, we'll let you sit here forever to have a committee stage consideration,' is a joke too. That is as much of a joke as this morning was.

We saw a farce this morning. We had the Australian Greens saying, 'We won't gag the consideration of electoral matters, but we will gag a conscience vote on same-sex marriage.' How does that work? You Greens are not even going to allow individual senators to speak in relation to a matter of conscience. Where on earth are the Greens coming from these days? Give me Bob Brown any day. He would not have perpetuated that joke. You cannot have a debate around an issue of conscience in this place and not allow any individual senator who wants to speak in the second reading debate to do so. It was a joke.

But it is typical, because with the Greens we have the forked tongue I referred to yesterday. We have them saying one thing and doing something completely different. Senator Macdonald sits there, nodding his head. But, Senator, they are your partners now. They are the people you will be sitting with right through tonight as you execute the sham that they have been convinced to join. They are too ignorant about process and procedure to understand what they have done. (Time expired)