Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving that the vote be taken again on general business notice of motion No. 1092.

Let me make a few brief remarks. The first point I would make is it might seem implausible, as has been argued by a number of senators in this debate, that this was an administrative process failure, but as implausible as it might seem it is actually the truth. It is often said that, when wondering whether something is a conspiracy or a stuff-up, they go for the stuff-up every time. This was a motion that was initially lodged on 19 September. It was meant to come to a vote on 20 September.

The position adopted by the Liberal-National Party Senate team for a vote that day was to oppose the motion to make a statement that the government condemns any form of racism. But, as the Senate would be aware, the motion did not come up on 20 September. We didn't get to it. We ran out of time to deal with general business notices of motion. Yesterday, the motion came back. I was, and a number of us were, focused on dealing with a number of other matters, and this slipped through in the wrong way.

I take responsibility. The buck stops with me in the Senate. For those who said that I declined to apologise, that's not true. If you look at my statement, I did apologise. This is, for me personally, severely embarrassing. I clearly was of the view, and my team was of the view, that this is a motion that should have been opposed. It's because of the reasons that I've outlined in my earlier statement and in my press conference earlier today that this didn't happen. I thank Senator Wong for giving us the opportunity to recommit this vote so that the final vote recorded by the Senate truly reflects the views of government senators in relation to these matters.