Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I will explain again for the minister. He circulated a running sheet whilst I was on my feet. Frankly, it is impossible, Minister, to digest anything while you are on your feet, making a contribution in the chamber. You might not understand that, but I think the public at large would have a pretty sensible idea that that is the case. So that is one point.

The second point is we have not long had your amendments, and I think everyone in this chamber, including Senator Back, is still trying to digest what is there. You have not answered my question yet about whether there are any more whether this is it.

Senator Birmingham interjecting—

This is it, is it? Okay.

Senator Birmingham interjecting—

No, I did not hear you say that, Minister. But, again, given that all of us started the day and meetings at around eight o'clock this morning and we are now in here approaching eight o'clock at night, I am not surprised that I did not comprehend part of what you might have put. That does not override the critical issue here, which is that we will have a general discussion about this bill and about the amendments that will hopefully allow us some time to digest what has very, very recently been circulated.

The minister, at the start of this committee stage contribution, got up and gave a general presentation about his views of the world and how he regretted that he did not have the opportunity in the second reading debate to close the debate. Well, that was your own colleague who did that, Senator Birmingham, and there were indeed other senators who would have taken the opportunity to make a second reading contribution. And I think, by virtue of senator Cormann's conduct, you will find that those same senators have some issues that they want to address in this committee-stage consideration. So I would not anticipate that you will be getting to dealing with amendments in detail for a little while yet.

You were denied the opportunity to make a contribution, as were a number of other senators. You brought on this debate in a way that you had not given the Senate notice of. You commenced this bill as the first bill this morning rather than as it has had been advertised, as the second for the day. Other senators had commitments. Indeed, if I recall correctly, Senator McKenzie did not get here to speak at the allocated time on the running sheet. She did not get here, because she had another commitment. Well, indeed, several of my colleagues did as well.

So, you will need to understand that we will not be moving from the general discussion in the committee stage phase until we are ready. When we are ready—it is not obstinacy, but when we are ready—I will be able to give you an understanding of what clusters we are happy to proceed with, and we will move through this committee stage consideration in an orderly manner. But we are not going to be rushed. We are not going to be hoodwinked. We are not going to be presented with more fantasy figures that you cannot justify. We will hold this government to account, and we will challenge you when you are trying to pull the wool over any particular senator's eyes. We will ensure that your moratorium is exposed if it is not the full monty. We will ensure that the other arrangements of your agreements stand up to scrutiny. You can go behind closed doors. You can fail to provide the information that you should, consistently, time and time again. You can hoodwink the crossbench into agreeing to an inadequate legislation inquiry that is rushed when it does not need to be, that is pushed through this Senate in a fashion that should not occur. You can—sometimes—get away with those things. But at the end of the day you need to come into this chamber and face the opposition.

So no, we will not be rushed. Yes, we will look closely at these amendments that you have only just circulated. We will match them against the selective leaking of stories in the media that has occurred over the last couple of days. We will challenge those senators who believe they have a particular deal, that the deal actually does stand up to scrutiny. And I am sure the Greens will do the same. They know what this government has been offering in their discussions better than we do, and I am sure they will be taking some considerable time to ensure that what we are dealing with here are the facts. So no, Senator Birmingham. We will not be moving to a discussion about the detail of your first amendment until all of those other issues have been addressed and indeed until we have more adequate answers to the general questions that I have already asked and that I am sure many of my colleagues will want to ask, too.