Senator CHRIS EVANS (Leader of the Government in the Senate) (5:10 PM) —The government opposes Senator Brown’s suspension motion. The longstanding precedent in this parliament in both chambers has been that, if the opposition seek to move a suspension motion, that suspension motion is debated and, if the time for question time has expired, we do not return to question time. The opposition chose today to move a censure motion fairly early in question time, I acknowledge. The government chose to take that suspension motion rather than defeat it procedurally. Senator Brown may have preferred that we not do that. I understand that; that is a perfectly reasonable position. But the government’s view was that we would rather debate the merits of the case than debate the procedure, so we took that course, and I appreciate the support of the Independents and Greens for the defeat of that censure motion.

To be fair to Senator Brown, he has argued this position before, so I am not arguing that he is not consistent in it, but the reality is that what he is asking is that sometime around half past five I try and round up whichever ministers are still in the building and available and we have another go at question time. Ministers, like all other members of parliament, plan their day around question time being between two o’clock and three o’clock in the afternoon. One of the great things that the Senate has done is that we have always called question time to a halt at three o’clock rather than letting it drag on, as it does in the House of Representatives under certain arrangements. Under successive governments of both persuasions, we have run a more orderly and timely question time process. To suggest that some time, whenever we get around to it, we call question time back on again and hope that ministers turn up, have their briefs and are ready to go is, quite frankly, not very practical. We have a cabinet meeting scheduled shortly which cabinet ministers—and I think there are five in the Senate—are required to attend. It would be a total disruption of the cabinet and government processes—

Senator Bob Brown —This is the parliament.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Senator, it is the parliament, and the parliament has always tried to extend courtesies and procedures that allow everyone to plan their day. I think it would be a grave mistake to overturn all those precedents that have been set in relation to these matters. The fact is that the opposition chose to move the censure motion, as is their right, and that was debated. But the time for question time has now passed.

We have three more question times this week in which the government will be accountable and will be here and, Senator, you will be able to ask us questions. I think your party raised with us earlier in the day whether or not there would be any compensation for the Greens for the lost question today. I indicated, as I have to the Independents in the past, that we will look at that question. We have always tried to make sure that minor parties in the Senate get a fair crack at question time, that they get a proportionate chance to ask questions. As you know, with the agreement of the opposition, on occasions we have extended time to make sure that the Independents got their question up on the allocated day. The chamber has tried to work constructively to make sure that all senators get an opportunity.

The reality is that we have moved past the time for questions. We have precedents for not looking to go back to question time this late in the day. As I say, there has been no warning for ministers and no arrangements are in place, and we have a cabinet meeting due. I think we ought to follow normal practice. I would urge the opposition to think through those practicalities and also to think through their role as an alternative government, in that we have to have arrangements in place that allow governments to function. Exercising their capacity to move a censure motion earlier in question time effectively gives up the right for the rest of question time. That is a tactical decision by the opposition. It is perfectly within their rights. They took it. But I think to then say, ‘We want to do that and, by the way, we’d like to go back into question time,’ is unreasonable. It is not the sort of procedure that the House of Representatives entertains.

So I take Senator Brown’s point, but we are at Monday. There are three more question times. The government is held to account. We were here accounting for ourselves through the censure motion. I suggest that we move on to other business. We have the condolence motion for Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, which we have been due to deal with for some time now. I think it would be appropriate if we moved on and dealt with that.