Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

What I'm putting to you is that if former Senator Lambie was still in this chamber, the government would have continued to engage with Senator Lambie and we would have been talking through the issues that she wanted to raise with us. But she is no longer here, so we weren't able to do it. Nobody in this chamber has any capacity whatsoever to identify what Senator Lambie's position would have been at the end of this process. That is the truth of it.

In terms of convention, now that the Greens sit pretty and have their representation back under control, and now that Labor are happy because the Greens, who mostly vote with them, have their full representation, we get threats that your pairs are going to be pulled when we, when it disadvantaged us, consistently respected those pairing arrangements, consistent with convention. I think it is entirely dishonourable. I think it is entirely dishonourable to suggest that pairs should be pulled against the government when all the way through when it disadvantaged us we respected, consistently, those pairing arrangements, as we continue to respect them in relation to Senator Kakoschke-Moore.

The position in relation to former Senator Lambie is quite different. Former Senator Lambie, as far as the government is concerned, did not have a concluded position.