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

Thank you for the guidance, Madam President, but I'm trying to make the case that, given the government's refusal to give the Australian people detail or a platform on which to interrogate and prosecute this potential change to our Constitution, the only place for that to happen in a respectful and transparent way is the Australian parliament—its committees and both chambers. We've seen another attempt by the Albanese government to truncate debate and to hide from the Australian people genuine concerns from people who just happen to not agree with them. The last time I checked it's not Cuba, North Korea or Beijing; it's the Australian democracy where different ideas should be allowed to be expressed in a respectful way and listened to. Yet when it comes to the inquiry into the bill before the Senate today—fast and furious as it was when the question was so serious—here we are, sitting on a Friday. People have cancelled their plans, ready to have the conversation that had to be had, to debate not just the Voice but also the other bills that the government—who have a right to set the agenda; they won the election; they manage the chamber—have put on the red.

So I ask the chamber: when did we become the chamber of shutting down debate on the most serious questions we are asked? These are not bills that have no consequence. This is changing our founding document.

Government senators interjecting—

And those opposite laugh merrily about genuine concerns of senators on this side of the chamber, and hopefully on the crossbench, who want to allow any senator in this place the time to make their contribution to the second reading debate and to actually ask the minister responsible as many questions as they need to about the detail. They also need to give the Senate the chance to contribute, to apply the transparency and scrutiny that this chamber is renowned for, not just in our country but globally.

The appropriation bills that are now going to be subject to a guillotine, it would seem, are bills that people actually wanted to have a say on, about how this government is approaching their fiscal management of the economy as Australians are hurting. They wanted to have their say on the TLAB as well. We have come in here, when we've put everything aside to get the job done—because that is the question that was put to us earlier in the week, about staying here as senators, as the Senate, to complete the referendum legislation—and we are now seeing the government again seeking to guillotine, on a Friday. I'm happy to stay the weekend, and I'm sure other senators are, to make sure we can fulfil our very important job in this democracy.