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

This is an important motion. It is a motion which goes to ministerial accountability. It is a motion which goes to the basic requirement that a minister should be required to attend the chamber and should be required to respond to matters within his or her portfolio which are of such concern to the community. I would argue that it would also empower the chamber to determine what action should be taken. So I would say to the crossbench that I ask for support not only to require Minister Colbeck to come down to the chamber to respond to the extraordinary maladministration in his portfolio. I would also say—I notice that Senator Roberts is on the monitor—that the second part of the motion which currently One Nation is seeking to oppose gives the Senate the power to act. It gives the Senate the power to act. This chamber—