Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by Senator Birmingham. It's a very simple motion. Genuinely, for those of you who believe in democracy and in the orderly running of the chamber, and for those of you who are not members of the government, this is all about you, as Senator Birmingham said. This is not about the opposition. Yes, the motion is in relation to our private senators' time tomorrow, but this is not about the opposition; this is about the proper functioning of this chamber. This is about ensuring that those who are not in government—I was going to say that includes the Australian Greens, but that would be to reject what I just said myself: 'Good God! It is currently the green tail wagging the red dog.' I withdraw that comment. This is actually about the proper functioning of the chamber.

There's been a lot of talk today about the fact that we are trying to delay the passage of the Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill 2023. Let us be very clear. Senator Birmingham's motion has nothing to do with the passage of that bill. We sat until 4.13 am this morning. It is now 9.17 am. We were happy to sit all the way through last night and all the way into this morning to ensure that we all had an adequate opportunity to give a speech in the second reading debate on this. We are more than happy—in fact, I expect there's a good chance that we will be here tomorrow at this time as we proceed through the committee stage. Again, this bill will pass. A deal has been done. But this is an incredibly important bill that deserves to be questioned. But, at the same time, that does not mean that you throw out democracy. That does not mean that you just throw away the Senate Order of Business and say: 'We'll dispose of that. We won't allow those who are not in government an opportunity to actually raise an issue.' It's only a short opportunity—it's only one hour and ten minutes—to raise and properly debate a very important bill that has been put forward by Senator Duniam.

I challenge anyone in this place to say that private senators' time is not an important part of a Senate sitting week. For those of us who care about democracy—and I hope that is each and every one of us in this place, but I have to say that, if Senator Birmingham's motion is not supported, those who are voting no may want to question whether or not they do believe that this place should operate in a democratic manner—we do need to see adequate time set aside for private senators' business. Yesterday that appeared to be okay, and then suddenly it all changed. The dirty deal was done, the Greens got what they wanted. It's okay if it's the Greens private senators' time. I challenge the Greens: can you give us your private senators' time today? There you go. Then we will argue if you want to lose your private senators' time tomorrow. Gosh! I bet that wouldn't happen. Why? Because the deal has been done.

One of the things the Australian parliament and the Australian Senate do is make and change laws. The government obviously gets its chance to introduce bills. We debate those bills, sometimes not in a timely fashion, unfortunately, or with adequate time, but the opposition and others who are not in government get limited opportunity to bring forward matters that are of importance to them. That is what private senators' time is all about. That is why it is not good enough for the government of the day, in conjunction with the green tail wagging the red dog, to ride roughshod over the processes of the Senate. This is all about good process. This is all about ensuring that those who are not in government—excluding the Australian Greens because, technically, they are in government, given the fact they will jump shortly and they will have an opportunity of one hour and 10 minutes this morning to debate a matter that is of importance to them. I may not agree the matter is of importance, but it's private senators' time, and they have a right to debate their business, just as I would have thought any other person not in government had a right that is about to be denied to them, to ensure the proper functioning of this place.