Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That a motion relating to legislative drafting resources for non-government senators may be moved immediately and have precedence over all other business.

Question agreed to.

I, and also on behalf of Senators David Pocock, Waters, Payman and Thorpe, move:

That the Senate:

(1) notes that there is a lack of legislative drafting capacity available to non-government senators and that this is constraining the ability of senators to exercise their rights to propose amendments to legislation;

(2) calls on the President to urgently provide more legislative drafters to the Department of the Senate before any further controversial bills are put before the Senate; and

(3) thanks all staff within the Department of the Senate for their hard work, dedication, intelligence and kindness.

This is your time that you're wasting this morning, not mine. For the last two years, we've been telling you this is a problem, but you come in here and act like everything's all kosher and it's fine and we haven't been doing anything for two years. I'm intending to come back in here tomorrow and do this again tomorrow morning unless something is done today to take the pressure off that drafting office and to take the pressure off our own staff. I will come in here every day next week, because, while you sit here and you change rules up here for people who can't take phone calls of a night-time and then you say, 'No, our advisers are at work 24 hours a day,' it's like you want to do a little bit for these people over there but nothing for these people over here. You talk about the welfare of people out there, and I tell you what: you've done nothing. You are part of the problem over there.

Right now—and I want to make sure this is quite clear—we have a harmonisation bill going through that's bringing three different acts together for veterans, which needs severe amendments put through it to fix it. In the meantime, I have to ask. I'm waiting for them to do a bill on the national commissioner, which they can't get done fast enough. If you were doing it in order—comporting with the royal commission—then, before you made any moves with these veterans, you would put that babysitter back on top of them, because DVA is failing to do the job. I have no idea how the coalition can possibly vote for that harmonisation bill until that national commissioner is put in place, and right now I can't do that, because I can't get that bill done. More suicides will be on your hands over there. More suicides—that's where it's going to.

I want this fixed. I swear to God, I will get up every day and we will waste your time, because you've had two years. We have been begging you for more staff down there. You expect us to put through your bills when we can't even get our amendments done. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm not going to spend any more time on this, but I want something done or, as I said, I'll be up tomorrow morning and next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I want more staff down there for those people in that drafting office. What I want you to do is go down and ask them if they're okay. I want you to get PWSS off its backside to actually start doing something in this parliament that's done in a hurry. It is failing to do its job. I want the minister to go down there and ask, 'Are you okay?' That's what I want to see today. In the meantime, I know that aged care is really important, especially for the elderly out there. I'm not going to take any more of your time.