Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

You are not my type either, mate, don't worry about it. Coming back to the question at hand, the reality is there is a very large policy issue on the table here, regardless of the view that Senator Hinch, Senator Gichuhi, the Greens, Senator Hanson and her team, or Senator Xenophon and his team take. And that policy issue is: what is the appropriate framework to fund Australian schools in the coming years? We have the view that the government's legislation is not good enough. We have the view that a fair deal for Australian students and a fair deal for Australian schools is in the national interest. We have a view that funding them $22 million less than the coalition previously promised—there was not going to be a dollar less than what the Labor government put in place—is the wrong thing to do. We have a view that saying that the majority of public schools will not reach the appropriate standard is not good enough.

But those are matters of substantive argument. In relation to the bill before the chamber, though, the Senate should not be required to debate and vote on a bill in relation to which senators do not know the detail. The reason they do not know the detail is that Senator Birmingham has, in a desperate effort to get the numbers through this place in order to ensure that Prime Minister Turnbull's leadership is safe, is running around seeking to do a deal with Senator Xenophon and other members of the crossbench. You are entitled to do that, but this Senate, as a legislative chamber, as a chamber of this parliament, is entitled—

Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting—

Mr Acting Deputy President, I wonder if Senator Macdonald could possibly cease interjecting for at least 30 seconds?