Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Well, there is no reason, if we go to these bills now—and I foreshadow that amendment, and I will seek to have that circulated; I'm not sure of the procedure of that, in terms of having it written so people can consider it. The amendment the government will be moving to this motion will be to ensure that we go to these bills straight after the conclusion of this debate; that final questions be put at seven o'clock; that divisions may take place after 6.30 for the purposes of those bills only; and that, presumably, once those divisions are finished, the Senate can adjourn. I think that's a reasonable position, having been given a lack of courtesy in having this motion dumped on us in about two minutes.

I have engaged with your Manager of Opposition Business a couple of times on these bills, to get an indication of how you wanted to handle these bills. I have been unable to get confirmation on that. I followed up this morning—I think it was this morning—on how the opposition would like to deal with these bills, seeking a commitment that we were dealing with it today, drawing to the Senate's attention the fact that we have Closing the Gap statements tomorrow and that on Thursday we have a joint sitting of the parliament. I wanted to make sure we had time to deal with these bills this week.

If the view of the opposition is that we need to deal with these bills today, let's get on with it, let's get cracking with it and let's allow what would be a good three hours and 15 minutes to deal with three second reading amendments and two substantive amendments in committee. That should be more than enough time to deal with these bills today, and we will get the job done. This is the position of the government and we look forward to the support from those opposite, if they are prepared to deal with it. This would be the chamber working together to get it done with the fastest arrangements possible.

I don't seek to delay the chamber but I foreshadowed an amendment; we'll have that circulated as soon as we can. I'm happy to let other speakers put their position. But, if we are going to upend the program to deal with these bills, let's get on and deal with it now. There is no reason to sit late tonight. We can deal with it in plenty of time. We are very happy to deal with the committee stage and deal with it quickly. Before 1.30 we finished the second reading debate—the debate was summed up by the acting minister—and we can move straight to the committee stage. Unless those opposite are seeking to filibuster through the committee stage and delay the passage of these bills, I can't see any reason—they don't even have amendments; the amendments are from the crossbench. We can deal with those very quickly, and have these bills passed and sent back to the House of Representatives as soon as possible.