Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I want to take a few minutes to support the suspension motion moved by Senator Brandis. Our purpose in seeking to suspend standing orders is to allow a motion to be moved which will see the Senate sit this evening until speeches in the second reading debate are concluded and sit tomorrow night until midnight. The purpose is to ensure that we can make good progress through this bill.

This package of legislation was one of the triggers for the double dissolution election, and, contrary to what Senator Cameron said when he asserted that this was not something that had been mentioned by the government during the campaign, I am happy to advise that that is completely incorrect. The Prime Minister spoke about the need for the ABCC at the National Press Club in his final address before the election, the Prime Minister spoke about the need for the ABCC at the coalition's campaign launch and the Prime Minister spoke about the need for an Australian Building and Construction Commission in the national campaign debates. The Prime Minister spoke in many, many interviews during the course of the campaign about the need for the ABCC. So, this contention from those opposite that it was not something that was mentioned is just wrong. The ABCC is an important reform that this nation needs. It is one that those opposite have sought to thwart, time and again.

What we are seeking to do through our request of the chamber to suspend standing orders and agree to Senator Brandis's substantive motion is merely to facilitate the orderly conduct of the people's business in this place. This is not an unusual motion. It is not seeking to put a guillotine in place. As those of us on this side who have spent a bit of time on the other side of the chamber recall, the Australian Labor Party, when in government, sought to guillotine 54 bills in one evening without any debate. Guillotine 54 bills without any debate—that was the motion moved by the Australian Labor Party when in government. We are not seeking to guillotine here. We are not seeking to curtail opportunity for debate. To the contrary, we are seeking to facilitate debate. We are seeking to provide the opportunity for anyone who wants to contribute in the second reading debate to do so. We think it is a good objective to seek to conclude the second reading debates, but that will happen naturally. It will happen organically. When there is no longer a colleague who wants to speak, then the second reading question will be put. We are proposing that tomorrow we sit until midnight so that we can make some good progress on the legislation. That is our objective.

As the Manager of Opposition Business noted, sometimes agreements on procedural motions, with different groupings in the parliament, are reached only a relatively short period of time before the opportunity to seek to move a motion. That is what occurred tonight. I often say in this place that, in a chamber where the government of the day does not have a majority in its own right, the management of the chamber and the management of the legislative agenda is a shared responsibility of all colleagues in this place, because no one grouping can determine what happens. That responsibility is, from time to time, picked up by different groupings. I certainly acknowledge the Manager of Opposition Business and the assistance that she provided last week to facilitate the passage of some non-controversial legislation, and I appreciate that. On other occasions, there will be crossbench senators who will seek to facilitate the good running of this place. I acknowledge the crossbench senators for their cooperation and for their willingness to accept that the management of the program is a shared responsibility when the government of the day not have the numbers in its own right. We are, of course, always reliant upon and need to work with different groupings in this place—sometimes it is the crossbench; sometimes it is the opposition; sometimes it is the Australian Greens. I acknowledge those colleagues who are helping us on this occasion to ensure that the Senate chamber can operate effectively and that we can transact the people's business.