Senator CARR (5:10 PM) —The government has called on the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment) Bill 1999 at very short notice. This demonstrates the point made by Senator Faulkner a short time ago about how quickly the agenda of this chamber can change at the direction of the government. Despite the outrageous claims made by the minister for industrial relations in the other chamber this afternoon and this morning, in terms of his public comments, it is the government that, at all times, has to take responsibility for the legislative program.

This matter has been brought on at the direction of the government and we are ready to deal with it posthaste. However, we note that there are a number of matters still outstanding in terms of advice to Senator Collins, which she has sought from a department, and I trust it will be available. We also note that there is no running sheet available for the consideration of amendments and that no Democrat amendments are being made available. This demonstrates the inadequacy of the government's planning and how totally unorganised it is. I trust that these matters will be attended to. I am confident that Senator Collins will carry forward the Labor Party's position on this, in the highly competent manner in which she always does.