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

I thank the Senate. I will make a point about conventions. This place is about the management, in many ways, of conflict and different views about how this country should be run. Part of how we manage and contain some of this conflict is by the observation of conventions. They include things like ministerial accountability, the pairing arrangements and the recommittal of votes. There's a whole range of things, and this is one of them. It is not about ceding control of the chamber; it is about recognising the role of executive government in a Westminster system, because we are also a party of government and we seek to change the country by changing the government.