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Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Page: 5753

Senator XENOPHON (South Australia) (10:02): Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement of no more than one minute.

The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for one minute.

Senator XENOPHON: I indicate that I've discussed this matter with my colleagues Senators Griff and Kakoschke-Moore this morning. We would not support the censure motion if it came to a vote. We do not support this particular suspension of standing orders because we believe that there has been a de facto debate in relation to it. There is one aspect in clause (c) of the motion that makes assertions against Senator Wong in terms of misleading the Senate. I do not make any judgement with respect to that, but, if the government has serious matters to raise, then that is a separate issue for the Privileges Committee of the Senate. It is a separate issue altogether. So we cannot support a censure motion. I echo some of the sentiments of Senator Bernardi in relation to this.