Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to advise the chamber that, while Labor finds there is much in the content of the motion that is worthy of consideration, we will not be supporting the suspension of standing orders at this point in the program. That is for the reason that, right now before the chamber, we should be debating, considering and, I would hope, passing the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2021.

This is a Greens stunt at a time when we have a pressing national security concern—a piece of legislation that needs to get passed. The Greens want to say that only they care about climate change and only they care about effective action. If they actually want effective action on climate change, if they want this Senate to do something effective about climate change, then pick up the phone and call us to tell us you're going to pull a stunt like this. We might have given you some advice to do it later in the day, after the security of critical infrastructure bill had passed.

This is why you cannot trust the Greens on national security, and it's why you can't trust the Greens when it comes to meaningful action on climate change. They opposed the CPRS and they pull stunts like this when we should be debating critical infrastructure. While the motion might have some things to commend it, the timing is terrible. This chamber needs to deal with the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2021 and it needs to do it now. We're not going to play politics with a Greens stunt.