Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I will just take those interjections, because the point I want to make here is that the government are saying it's either/or—you can either debate your constitutional amendment bill, the most important bill, chances are, that we will pass in a generation, to give Australians their say, or you can do the job that you'd normally be doing, which is debating and considering tax and appropriations bills. They're saying, 'If you shut up and sit down, we could get on with it.' But, hang on, we're got other legislation before we get to that bill, which is so critically important, which the government put on the agenda and which the Manager of Opposition Business said we took issue with. Sure, there wasn't a division the other day, but the views were very clearly put on record. To suggest, somehow, that we're going to sign up and let it sail on through, and zip our mouths shut and let you lot impose your agenda on this place is wrong, so we will take issue with that.