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

I seek leave to make a further statement.

Leave granted.

You know that's not true. You know that's not true. We had a speakers list before. Senators Smith, Brockman, Bragg and Scarr were all added. With all due respect, none of you were particularly keen on talking about this previously. The ministers on the other side continue to tell the opposition: 'We want to make sure this is passed quickly.' Why are you delaying it? What's the problem? I simply don't think it's reasonable to seek the courtesy and the facilitation of the opposition for bills that are in the national interest, then realise you've got some scheduling issue and rock up and try to delay passage of it. Do Senator Payne or Senator Canavan want to come down and explain to the parliament why they've had a change of heart, why this is no longer urgent and why they're stacking in backbenchers to pad out the speakers list to two o'clock? I reckon that'd be a pretty courteous thing to do in the circumstances.