Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Clerk, I remind the Senate that the time has come when it is necessary for the Senate to choose one of its members to be President. I propose to the Senate for its President, Senator Hogg, and move:

That Senator Hogg do take the chair of this Senate as President.

The Clerk: Are there any further nominations?

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

Of course there are. I propose—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

I remind members opposite of their obligations at this time under the standing orders while the Clerk is presiding for this purpose. I propose to the Senate for its President, Senator Ludlam, and move:

That Senator Ludlam do take the chair of this Senate as President.

The Clerk: There being two nominations, I invite the two candidates to address the Senate.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Honourable senators, I submit myself to the will of the Senate.

Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Honourable senators, I submit myself to the will of the Senate.

The Clerk: Does any senator wish to address the nominations?

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

The standing orders advise that the Senate vote for the best person as its presiding officer. This is an extraordinarily important position under the Senate rules. My position is that Senator Ludlam is the person best placed—

Honourable senators interjecting—

I would remind senators opposite that there are standing orders which require—

Opposition senators interjecting —

Bad behaviour at the start by the coalition will be noted. I note that Senator Ludlam has been an acting presiding officer in this chamber for the last three years and has done an impeccable job. He is a person of great integrity. He is forthright. He would be an unbiased, deliberative and fair presiding officer.

I also want to say—over the already notable poor behaviour we are hearing from the minority on the coalition side—that it will be very clear that there will need to be—

The Clerk: Order, Senators, please.

The Clerk has called for order, and I would ask you to respect her in doing that. I would note that there will be contentious periods in the coming Senate, and Senator Ludlam would be very well placed to ensure that the stand­ing orders are upheld and that the constitutional responsibilities here are upheld. I note that there is a subtext here, and that is that there is a cosy arrangement between the government and the oppo­sition—

Honourable senators interjecting —

We will see it played out. There is a cosy arrangement to have the government appoint the presiding officer and the opposition to appoint the deputy officer. I would ask all senators to consider that that is not what the standing orders imply, that is not in the spirit of the standing orders. It is up to every member in this place to vote for the best candidate. Clearly Senator Ludlam is the best choice for presiding officer of this great chamber over the coming three years.

The Clerk: Does any other senator wish to address the nominations?

There being two nominations, in accordance with the standing orders a ballot will be held. Before proceeding to ballot, the bells will be rung for four minutes.

The bells having been rung

The Clerk: The Senate will now proceed to ballot. Ballot papers will be distributed to honourable senators, who are requested to write upon the paper the name of the candidate for whom they wish to vote. The candidates are Senator Hogg and Senator Ludlam. I invite Senator McEwen and Senator Siewert to act as scrutineers.

A ballot having been taken—

The Clerk: The result of the ballot is as follows: Senator Hogg, 62 votes; and Senator Ludlam, 9 votes. Senator Hogg is therefore elected President of the Senate in accordance with the standing orders.

Senator Hogg having been conducted to the dais—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I wish to thank honourable senators for their confidence in re-electing me as the President of the Senate. It is truly an honour indeed once again to serve this parliament in this honourable office. I wish to thank my party, in particular, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Evans, for their support in nominating me for this position. I thank those people who have supported me over a long period of time both inside and outside of this parliament to enable me to assume an office such as this. I wish to thank my staff, both in Canberra and in Brisbane, because without my staff I would indeed be nothing. Last but not least, I want to thank my wife Sue—my wife of 33 years and three days—who has been a tower of strength to me. As we all know, in politics the hard part is for our wives, our partners, our spouses. Sue, I love you for all that you have done for me and I thank you very much.

Before we suspend, there is one other thing I should do at the outset, and that is to congratulate the Clerk and the officers of the Black Rod on the transition that has taken place from when the Senate last sat until now. The effort has been exemplary indeed and the transition has been as smooth as we could reasonably hope it to be. So I want to put on the record for all time that they have done a marvellous job in settling in all of the new senators. Last but now least, I congratulate all those senators who have assumed their seat in this chamber for the first time. Well done. We look forward to having some robust debates over the next period of time. Thank you.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I would like to for­mally congratulate you on your election to this very important office on behalf of the government and all Labor senators. Your role is a very important one and one that the Senate takes very seriously. I think the support you have received today reflects the fact that you are recognised for your fairness, your impartiality and your capacity to work with all senators for the benefit of the Senate and the Australian people. Congratulations on your re-election.

I will keep my remarks short because the Governor-General is awaiting us but I also want to place on the record that, while we did not support Senator Ludlam, I do appreciate the contribution he has made, particularly when in the chair, and his light touch and patience are appreciated by all senators. But the government maintains its commitment that the President ought be nominated by the government and we will be continuing that approach with the election of the Deputy President. The government will support the nomination of the opposition. Despite a difficult period when these things were called into question some years ago—and I will not go over the history of that—we think that the process of having the Senate President as a representative from the gov­ern­ment and the Deputy President being the nominee of the opposition has served the Senate well and has provided for stability and the good functioning of the Senate. This has obviously been assisted by the fact that we have had quality people nominated on all occasions, and I am sure that will continue this time. Mr President, on behalf of all Labor senators, congratulations on your election and we look forward to working with you in this new parliament.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on behalf of the coalition, I extend our sincerest congratulations to you on your re-election. In anticipation of the Labor Party delivering on the promise that was just made in relation to the Deputy President, I announce that there will not be a National Party nomination for the deputy presidency.

Mr President, whilst we mutually test each other's patience from time to time, you do know that you have enjoyed our support in the past and you know that you enjoyed our support today in the ballot, and I assure you that you will continue to enjoy our support in the future. We wish you well.

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

Mr President, I add a word of con­gratulations for you winning the ballot and resuming your seat as presiding officer of this chamber, and I can assure you that the Greens will be respecting that and assisting you in the good governance of the Senate. I also honour and thank Senator Ludlam for offering as an alternative. He no doubt will continue to serve this Senate in a wider capacity, if not in the chair.

I will say that it is notable that the National Party will not be, as I just heard from the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, putting forward a candidate and that we now have the Greens in the position of being the third party in this chamber. And we do intend to take a vigorous role in offering alternatives to an arrangement like we have just seen, which is going to be the pattern of this Senate, where on many, many issues the two peak parties will be getting together to use their numbers against the innovation of this very progressive and growing force in politics here on the crossbench, the Australian Greens.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is great to see you re-elected as President, Senator Hogg. You did an admirable job before and you are widely held with respect across the chamber—or it seems that most of us thought you did a very good job. I wish you very well in your deliberations in the coming period. We have already had Senator Brown say that we are part of a minority, which means that he must be part of a majority—so he is obviously part of the government, which is clear to see. We hope that we will be able to make sure that you can keep up your exemplary record of never throwing any of us out of the chamber—mind you, there is always an opportunity for you to break from tradition.

The National Party is quite happy to work in an effective coalition. We feel that that has been the most effective form of government in postwar Australia. As such, we will not be playing any sort of charade by putting up a candidate for deputy. We have obviously had discussions with regard to who it will be, and we are very comfortable with the job that they will do.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I echo the remarks of my colleagues in congratulating you on your re-election as President. Senator Ludlam was a worthy opponent but I think it is approp­riate that you be re-elected. I hope in the next three years whenever I approach you in the chair you will not say, 'What mischief have you caused now?'—that there will not be a continuation of that. I look forward to working with you as President for the next three years.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to inform honourable sena­tors that the Governor-General will be pleased to receive Mr President and such honourable senators as desire to accompany him in the Member's Hall immediately.

Sitting suspended from 10:45   to   12:00

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

(

I have to report that, accompanied by honourable senators, this morning I presented myself to the Governor-General as the choice of the Senate as President. The Governor-General congratulated me upon my appointment.