Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Good point, in terms of the uncertainty for the people who work in this place, who are now being told at six o'clock at night that they will not be going home to their families until closer to midnight tonight. This shows disrespect for senators in this place. If we look at the role of the Nick Xenophon Team, in particular, hand in hand with the government, doing their deals, we have had: the building and construction legislation in February this year; the social services legislation and the childcare legislation in March; the business tax cuts in March; and the education bill in June—all followed the same path: deals, discussions behind closed doors and, at the last moment, scurrying in here and extending hours to finally debate the bill when the government is ready and on Nick Xenophon's terms. This is the sixth time that the Senate has been placed in this position, where a non-government party, the Nick Xenophon Team, and the government dictate how this Senate is to function for everybody else. It's not acceptable.

The government have lost control of their program. This bill has been sitting here for 18 months waiting to be debated. Indeed, on one occasion I remember we asked to debate this bill and the government refused to allow it to be dealt with. On Monday this week, it was on and off again. There was plenty of time this week to debate this bill in normal sitting hours and to deal with it in a reasonable fashion. But here we are, almost six o'clock at night, and the government are insisting that the rest of us stay here, including all of the staff in this place, without notice, so that the government can push through the deal that they've done with the Nick Xenophon Team. None of us have a say in that at all. We're just meant to suck it up. This is a pattern from this government. They can't manage their program. They rely on the Nick Xenophon Team to help them, and the rest of us are just pawns in the game. It's not a way to run the program.

Senator Brandis interjecting—

You're nodding at that, Senator Brandis. We are pawns in the game. That's how the Leader of the Government in the Senate sees this. Well, this is a lesson to all of us in this place. We shouldn't be treated like this by the government and we shouldn't be required to sit here— (Time expired)