George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I am not going to detain the Senate for very long. Senator Whish-Wilson, the government is very, very eager and happy to debate this budget, because this is a budget of which we are very, very proud. But I just make this point to you and to other colleagues: there is such a thing as the appropriate order of procedure. The Leader of the Opposition has yet to deliver his response to the budget and, as Senator Whish-Wilson and others would know, the sitting program for this week provides that tomorrow evening there is specific time allocated for party leaders and crossbench senators to make speeches in relation to the budget.

The bills, of course, are not even in this chamber. They will be in the chamber, and there will be a very thorough debate about the budget bills, no doubt, when the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) and related bills are introduced. Of course, there are all the other opportunities—including, in particular, question time—for senators to ventilate issues arising from last night's budget. Senator Whish-Wilson, I do not want to be offensive, but I suspect that we have seen this morning just a little bit of grandstanding. You will have—every honourable senator will have—plenty of opportunity to debate the budget at the appropriate time and in the appropriate order provided for by the Senate program and, indeed, by the Senate standing orders. When that debate is engaged, the government is very, very, very eager to spruik from the rafters the virtues of this budget. But this morning, with a busy sitting program, and a lot of other legislation to be dealt with on the red, is not that time.