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

Thank you, Mr President. Labor has denied formality to this motion today because we believe issues such as the one raised by Senator Bernardi in motion number 548 should not be dealt with by a simple motion of the Senate. It relates to matters of international political history across a number of different countries. We believe that, if you're moving motions like this, there should be the opportunity for substantive debate on the issue by other senators. That is why we do want to cooperate with Senator Bernardi. We notice that there is often a number of motions from him across a wide range of issues. We do like to work with Senator Bernardi but we also feel it's important that when there are motions being put like this where other contributions could be made, or should be made, about these topics they should be dealt with not in general business notices of motion but rather through matters of public importance, private senators' time or general business time.