Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Cash for that contribution. The government moved this motion that the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 and the Family Law Amendment (Information Sharing) Bill 2023 be taken together for the convenience of the Senate. Passage of this motion means that there will be only one second reading debate and committee stage, rather than two consecutive debates on bills dealing with the same topic area. Whilst the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 has been available to the Senate for some time, the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 was subject to a Senate committee inquiry, and the government did not consider it desirable for one bill to proceed ahead of the other. The bills being taken together does not prevent any senator from asking for the two bills to be voted on separately at any stage, and there is an expectation that this might occur. If the motion is not successful, the bills will be debated one after the other in the order that they are listed on the red and in the Notice Paper.