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

I'll just make a couple of points. Senator Bernardi is right in this regard—there are principles here. The government's point reflects the fact that until more recently, with the exception of Senator Harradine and some other notable exceptions, the majority of senators in this chamber were from larger political parties, and pairing arrangements have reflected that. We are in a situation where we have to reflect on how we deal with a pairing arrangement where there's a party that will replace its senator, but there is no-one in the parliament yet to indicate the position of that party. That's the position. And the matter of principle that—