Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand representing quite a body of colleagues here on this side of the Senate and, I suspect, in some other parts of the Senate. I'm very heartened to hear the Attorney indicate his intention to move the amendments that he's articulated in his statement. The point I want to make today—and this will be an historic day—is that there are five million Australians who are cautious about this process. I'm simply calling on all colleagues over the next week or so to have a respectful debate and to go carefully and cautiously, in a timely fashion. I, too, share the view that we, as a government, and we, as a parliament, need to have this matter resolved. There is an inevitability about the passage of this bill, but I want to be certain that people out there who want the protections to which they're entitled know that they have strong voices still within this due process. We will debate it and bring amendments respectfully because, I think, we all share one view: we want to create legislation here that brings a nation together and doesn't leave the potential for a nation to be divided.