Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is a disgrace that we are only sitting for 15 weeks. I know as a newbie you all say to me: 'Wait till you've been here a while. We do work hard.' There are estimates committee weeks—I know that. I have been told by a senator not far from your chair, sir, that when I have been here a few years, as long as you have, maybe, I will realise that those vacations and that time back with constituents are necessary. But I think that out there, in what they call the real world, we are seen to be only sitting for 15 weeks out of 52, or only 60 days out of 365.

I agree with the senator that we have a lot of work to do. The hours you put in here are long. I think the general public do not understand that you can be here from six or seven o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock at night, like last night. But the general perception is that we do not work long enough times. We are well paid for what we do. I just want to lodge my protest. I think we should be sitting longer.