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

I agree that there should be more sitting days. In respect of what the government is planning for tonight, I have indicated previously that if it is a matter of sitting until a reasonable hour tonight so that we can deal with the legislation—10 pm or 10.30 pm—as long as it is clearly urgent legislation, that is something I am prepared to consider. I think we need to deal with that. But the government needs to go back to the drawing board when it comes to the number of sitting days that we have, because the number is clearly not adequate. I think there is general consensus that ‘legislation by exhaustion’ is not the way to do things. Sitting until the early hours of the morning and starting up a few hours later is a very poor way to legislate for this nation. So I hope the government understands the concerns that have been expressed by the crossbench and the opposition and that we can have a focused approach to sitting days and sitting times.