Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I want to speak to Labor's comments about having a private member's bill that seeks to do the same thing and therefore not wanting to support this particular bill. I think everyone who's listening needs to understand that private member's bills rarely get up. They're used to put pressure on governments to do particular things, to enable debate or to enable committee work in relation to particular policies or laws. No-one should pretend that when a bill that comes through the Senate that is a government bill and that will eventually go back to the House, if it is amended here, and be passed into law it will be ignored because you have a private member's bill up. It seems to be disingenuous to make a statement that you are in support of this but you want to have it up in your own private member's bill. That's the method by which you wish to seek the change. Labor has an opportunity here to implement something that it purportedly agrees with but is simply not prepared to back. I think people should at least appreciate that.

I'd also like to go back to a discussion that I was having with Senator Cormann prior in relation to this bill. I did ask Senator Cormann a whole range of questions about his personal circumstance in terms of dinners that he might have attended and so forth. I want to make it very clear to the chamber that I was not directing that at Senator Cormann in any other way than in acknowledgement of the fact that Senator Cormann is not in a position to answer this question for other ministers. I am of the understanding that all ministers do it. I was simply restricting my questions to the minister at the table in appreciation of the fact that he has knowledge of his own affairs. I wasn't suggesting or in any way seeking to single him out.