Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

As the chamber knows very well, there was a process in place and that process started with the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee having a reporting date of 14 July, next Monday, for the tabling of their report into this package of carbon tax repeal bills. What we have today is a farcical attempt by government senators to change that entire process, all for their own political advantage. This Senate knew its business and it set the dates according to its order of business. Yet the government has come in and, for the purposes of some political stunt, tried to change the process in order to allow these bills to be debated forthwith. The opposition and the majority of senators in this place—as we know because we had this debate earlier today—agreed that the process should stand.

We believe in proper process. We know that, through the committee process, which is an important part of being in the Senate because this is the house of review, there would be a review of the legislation that was before it. What we are talking about here is substantial legislation on what has been described by many, including world leaders, as the most important and compelling issue facing our globe at this time. But this legislation was not even allowed to be put through the process of an inquiry, with public hearings to hear from experts as to its merits, to inform the senators in this place whether it was decent legislation to pass. We were not allowed to have that process occur, despite the opposition senators asking for it and despite its being custom and practice, time and time again, for the Senate committee process of an inquiry, to call for submissions and to have dates when hearings are held.

The government senators would not allow that to happen. Through that process, or lack of process, they were silencing climate scientists, economists, professionals and experts in the field. What did they get in return? They had 59 economists, including John Hewson, coming out today and stating clearly that there needs to be a price on carbon and legal limits on carbon pollution. Those kinds of voices were silenced in the Senate committee process. Labor does not stand for this. We stand very clearly for an emissions trading scheme. The government did not want to hear experts that agree with Labor, experts that agree with an emissions trading scheme, experts that agree that the carbon repeal bills are wrong as they stand and that there does need to be an amendment to allow for an emissions trading scheme to be introduced. I feel very frustrated by the fact that this government has not allowed proper process to be carried out through the Senate committee structure.