Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I would like to make a statement to the Senate indicating the complication the government had in relation to the division on the third reading of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2006. The amendment to the bill was put and there was a division, and the Hansard will record that the government defeated the amendment. Immediately that division concluded, two senators from the government side, Senator Ellison and Senator Santoro, left the chamber. I have ascertained that it was between one and two minutes from the conclusion of the division on the amendment and the announcement being made by the President. The division bells were rung again for the third reading of the bill, and we divided. The division bells were rung for one minute. The two senators in question attempted to return to the chamber under the impression it was a four-minute division bell. Of course, they did not make it in time for the division. Hence, the government lost the third reading division. With that explanation, I seek leave to move that the third reading of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 be recommitted.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I ask whether leave is granted for Senator Parry to move that the question be put again, are there other senators who wish to seek leave to make a statement?

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I accept the explanation that Senator Parry has made with respect to the two senators in question. At the end of my comments we will grant leave for the third reading to be recommitted to the chamber. It is an unusual set of circumstances. It is not unusual for senators to miss divisions in this place but it is certainly unusual for three senators to miss a division on the one occasion. It is difficult to judge whether people are abstaining or whether they have genuinely, for whatever reasons, missed the division. It is disruptive to the work of the Senate to have to recommit motions and to have a recount. We are already working to a tight timetable, at the government’s insistence. We sat long hours last week and we are sitting long hours this week in order to get through a fairly substantial legislative program. We can do without these sorts of disruptions.

It has always been Labor’s position that any votes taken in this chamber should express the will and the make-up of the chamber. That is why we will grant the recommittal of the motion to the Senate. But it is up to the government to ensure that its members are disciplined and attend the chamber when required. At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the government to manage the chamber; it is not our responsibility. It lies with the government to ensure that its members are disciplined enough to attend the chamber and be in attendance when votes are required. Having said those few words, I am happy to grant leave for the motion on the third reading to be recommitted.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The government has control of the Senate, but it does not have control of itself. That is the problem tonight. Senator Parry said a minister and an ex-minister left the chamber—I would say in a mighty hurry—and found themselves a minute or so away from the chamber with a minute to get back here and did not make it. Nobody else missed that deadline; everybody else listened to the proceedings that were afoot. But these two senior members of the government left and therefore the government lost its essential control of the Senate. It is very sloppy. It is embarrassing for the government. As we have just heard, it will delay the proceedings of the Senate inevitably in a week in which the government has used its numbers to have us sitting late—that is what we are doing here tonight—and to have us sit possibly even later on Thursday night.

The only thing I would say to the government is: get your act in order. This is an important year. We are headed for an election and you need to be in control of what your members are doing, particularly ministers. If you cannot do it on a simple thing like getting members in here for a vote, which everybody else was here for, then there is something seriously amiss within the ranks. Have a good look at what is going on there and see if you can rectify it, and we would all be better off. With that, I add that the Greens will be granting leave for a recommittal of the third reading as well.

The Acting Deputy President:

Is leave granted for the recommittal of the vote on the third reading of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2006? There being no objection, leave is granted.

Question put:

That this bill be now read a third time.