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

Senator Rhiannon is a bit touchy. She came into the chamber and she decided to give us a lecture about where we were up to this morning. She was false that time too. She was on the wrong amendment. She did not even know what amendment we were on when she was lecturing us about what we were doing. So yes, it is appropriate that I address the other falsehoods, because her procedural understanding seems to be extremely limited.

We have concerns not only about the unprincipled approach to how we have dealt with this legislation—and we are still here dealing with substantive matters at seven past eight in the morning. This is, people need to understand, an alternative to a gag. This is legislation by attrition, and any pretence from the Greens that they have not gagged this matter is a joke. Anyone who understands human stamina knows that. I have to say that Senator Cormann is up at the very top. You are the one person who has almost exclusively stayed in this chamber right through the whole period, so I give you credit for that. You are still looking pretty fresh, I have to say. I should also acknowledge that some of your advisers and at least one of our advisers have been here through the process too. But human endurance has its limitations. The Greens can run this pretence that we are not really gagging it. The reality is that this is legislation by attrition, and that is as effective as any gag you could imagine, so stop the pretence.