Senator ALSTON (Minister for Communications and the Arts)(6.43 p.m.) —I speak as one who has been in this situation in the not too distant past. It could not possibly set a precedent to have this recommittal taken at the end of the committee stage, for the simple reason that that was not what happened in my situation. So you will have two conflicting precedents, if you think precedent has anything to do with it.

Senator Schacht —It was pretty quick though.

Senator ALSTON —It was pretty quick in that instance. Was that the precedent then? Is this the precedent now? Neither of them are precedents. They are both examples of doing it in different ways at different times. That ought to be what guides you. You ought to do it in the context of what is going on in the chamber, the importance of the issue and the convenience of the senators involved in the debate.

I think why Senator Harradine has exploded—and he is probably a bit less restrained than I am on this occasion for once, but I felt similarly—is to think that this bloke can just wander into the chamber with a smirk on his face, and get up and expect to be given instant royal treatment and have the vote recommitted after he said about two words. As I recall, I had to grovel for at least five minutes.

There is no doubt he would not have the slightest idea what this is about. We have been in here for hour upon hour. Senator Brown, to think that you can just come in here to suit your own convenience and then presumably go back to the party you have been attending, I think, ignores completely the courtesies of the chamber.

What has been suggested in this instance by Senator Harradine very much meets the circumstances. You are entitled to have your hearing later on. You ought to do that and be grateful. You ought to accept that there are other matters that have been dealt with here over a protracted period. Perhaps tempers get short in the process, but that is simply a reflection of the fact that we think there are conveniences that ought to be acknowledged. The way in which you have come in here has been particularly insensitive. To think that you can simply get to your feet and effectively demand to be heard on the spot flies completely in the face of the discretions that the chamber ought to exercise.