Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the suspension motion and the right of every single senator to have their say, for dissenting voices to be expressed in this chamber. I remind senators on all sides of this chamber that that is supposed to be what the Senate is actually about. It is where the diversity of the views that exist within our democracy have a space and a place to be expressed.

What we have heard this morning, in speaking to this suspension motion, is that some voices, some senators, some views are more equal than others under the new regime of the Labor Party and the Greens in government. We accept the deal has been done. The legislation will be passed. We also accept that that means we have to stay up till 4 am to make contributions. Senators from the National Party and the Liberal Party did that last night and were happy to do so because it is important that the views we bring to the debate on this legislation be said, heard and reflected upon so that when the implications of this decision are felt in the communities that we've been sent to represent—are felt in a very real and tangible way in job losses and in skyrocketing energy prices, particularly in rural and regional Australia—it's important that we have done the right thing by our communities and have put it on the record.

To come here and have a deal to mean that democracy doesn't matter any more in the Senate, that the Greens can have their special place in the sun but other non-government senators and parties can't, is an absolute flouting of what this chamber was set up to do, which is to provide for our democracy. Behaviour like that is commonplace in the other place. It's a very blunt instrument: I've got the numbers; you don't. We get to do whatever we like. But this has always been the chamber of negotiation. It has always been the chamber of diversity of views and respecting the fact that, no matter how far apart we are on the substantive question, we all have the right and, indeed, the duty to express that in this place. The increasing pattern of behaviour from the government, supported by their coalition partner the Greens, is to shut down dissent and to silence diversity so there really is only one view able to be expressed out of the Australian Senate. We have processes in place to facilitate both the passage of bills and the expression of the diverse views of the Australian people. Minister, your government, enabled by the Greens, has sought to shut those diverse views down when you don't have to. This chamber is now hostage. We've been gagged, we've been dragged and now we're being held to ransom for our views and are being silenced along the way.

I am not going to back away, nor is my team going to back away, from bringing very real questions that Minister Farrell couldn't answer about the impact of this deal on rural and regional Australians, on our industries and on the 84 per cent of companies that are actually going to be impacted by the safeguard mechanism. We've got a lot of questions to ask. That is our job. We are all on the journey to net zero, but you're kidding yourself if you think the impact of that decision is going to be felt the same across our country and the same across our communities. Our job on this side of the chamber is to understand the implication of the decision. Holding us hostage—gagging and dragging us, ransoming our right as senators and how this chamber has functioned in my entire 12 years here, no matter who's been in government—is a very concerning precedent and pattern of behaviour from the Labor Party.