Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

President, I would draw the Senate's attention to the motion moved through this parliament according to wording supported by Senator Wong and me on Tuesday 27 September 2022. This motion made clear that this Senate condemns racism and discrimination in all its forms. It assures all migrants to Australia that they are valued, welcome members of society. It affirms that, if parliament is to be a safe place for all who work and visit here, there can be no tolerance for racism or discrimination in the course of parliamentarians' public debate, and it calls on all senators to engage in debates and commentary respectfully and to refrain from inflammatory and divisive comments, both inside and outside the chamber, at all times. Those words stand as true today as they did on that occasion, and that is the approach that all senators should apply.

In speaking to that debate at that time, President, I made a plea to all senators—particularly those at that end of the chamber—to stay out of the gutter, to rise above the Twitterverse, and to play the ball, not the person. I said that, in the conduct of debates in this place, the interjections and swipes made across the chamber, the insinuations and the other comments just don't have a place and that everybody around here should live up to a higher standard. Frankly, we see it coming from far too many directions too often, motivated in a whole range of different ways.

This debate is about suspension of standing orders. If leave had been granted, we would have had a three-minute statement from Senator Waters, which she has now made, essentially, in the statement that she made, raising all of the issues she expected to. The coalition did not deny leave. We would have welcomed and allowed that statement and facilitated it, just as we would have facilitated a response to that statement, because that would have been the proper course of events. But right now, around Australia, Australian households are doing it tough. There are plenty of issues for this Senate to be focusing on, rather than the petulant, petty arguments between different senators. So we won't be supporting any more time being given to these types of debates. We think we should get on with the issues facing Australians. I've made clear our position and the principles. I urge senators to live up to a higher standard, but I most particularly urge you all to get on with debating issues that are impacting every Australian right now.