David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Through you, again, we did not move the suspension motion. We are responding to the suspension motion. Where we are currently at today is formal motions. What we are dealing with is formal motions. Formal motions are a part of the day that was developed in order to put through motions that can be dealt with without debate. That is inherently what we are looking at here at the moment. That is the very reason why—

Senator Di Natale interjecting—

I can hear Senator Di Natale, who has moved the suspension motion, out over to my right objecting. He stood up earlier and, in his five minutes, talked about the weighty issue that this motion deals with. We can have a separate debate on the weightiness of the issue. His very point that these issues are, as he claims, 'weighty' in the subject matter that they are dealing with is the very reason why they should not be dealt with by a formal motion. It is the very reason why the government and the opposition for many, many years have had the position that complex foreign affairs motions should not be dealt with formally without debate. They deserve to be properly debated and not dealt with in a formal fashion.

Senator Di Natale interjecting—

That is a separate issue, Senator Di Natale. For you—