Senator ALSTON (Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) (6:13 PM) —I do not want to detain the Senate for too long, but I think it is important to understand what the attitudes of the parties are on this issue. I noticed Senator Ray was being very generous in offering gratuitous advice to this side of the chamber. I am surprised that he has not really taken the opportunity to offer a lot more constructive advice to his own leader because if ever anyone blew it comprehensively, it is Senator Faulkner. What Senator Faulkner has essen tially said to the rest of the Senate is this: `Between us—Labor and the coalition—we have got the numbers. We don't care about anyone else. Screw `em.' That is the way the Labor Party operates; that is the way it works in the Trades Hall Council. But that is not the approach that we take in the Senate.

We would like to get on with this debate as quickly as possible. We have made that abundantly clear. We have said it in spades right from the time of the last election. Nothing would please us more than to have this debate out of the road. We do not for a moment expect a skerrick of cooperation from the other side of the chamber. We understand your agenda. You will be here to frustrate for as long as possible. You have no constructive amendments to make; you are simply going through the motions of delay.

We understand all that, but what is important is that there are some people who actually have amendments. We might say that they are misguided and wrong-headed. They might want to take out food and we do not like it, but at least they have got a few policy approaches, and the process of this place allows those to be properly debated and considered.

Senator Conroy —You described them as fruitcakes.

Senator ALSTON —Indeed, and that will be reflected in the attitude we take when they put up their amendments. But we do not deny them the right to put their amendments on the table. But that is the very thing that Senator Faulkner wants. He wants to deny them the opportunity to put their amendments on the table. He does not want to have a running sheet; he just wants pure chaos. That is what your leader wants. He wants to fundamentally disrupt the processes of the Senate so that it is absolutely chaotic. At the end of the day, much and all as we are disappointed that the Democrats have not been able to use the time between the last election and now to come up with all of their amendments, we do give them the benefit of the doubt in the sense that we know they do not have the resources of the trade union movement behind them and they therefore have to do a fair amount of the work themselves.

Senator Conroy —The hoary old chestnut.

Senator ALSTON —Come in spinner! It hurts, doesn't it? That is a very painful nerve. The trouble with that issue is that it will never go away. You can bury your heads in the sand, you can deny it, you can say it is not so, but when everyone looks at the background of the people on the other side of the chamber they know that overwhelmingly they are the lackeys of the trade union movement. It is within your control or the control of the preselectors. I simply say it.

Just to be clear, we have had over 14 hours of the second reading. In terms of speeches on the second reading, this is in the top half-dozen of second reading debates ever in this chamber. We have had a very substantial period of time. We are dead keen to get on with it, but we are prepared to give the Democrats an opportunity to ensure that the process of the Senate operates effectively. The only thing we regret, but we are not surprised about, is that Labor has no interest at all in pursuing that agenda.