Senator SMITH (Western Australia—Deputy Government Whip in the Senate) (17:10): I would also like to add my comments to the debate this afternoon. Labor—dare I say 'in collusion with the Australian Greens'—is showing some crocodile tears: 'Oh dear, parliament has been recalled to discuss issues that are important to Australian small businesses!' Indeed, parliament has been recalled to discuss ideas of importance to the Australian trucking industry. Oh dear, shock horror! That is not reason enough to bring back the parliament.' But if we reflect briefly on the events of the last afternoon, what have we seen? We have seen a monumental mess-up. Senator Carr, either operating on his own or operating under instructions from Labor's Senate leadership—who knows—moved a motion to take note of answers. That tripped him into chaos, and there was chaos and drama on the Labor side. Labor is now trying to restore the order of the Senate because of an error that they made, a miscalculation that they made—or, more specifically, that Senator Carr made. Senator Wong's motion this afternoon tries to cast doubt over the motivation of the government in calling back the Senate and the House of Representatives. Put simply: what we saw, as commented on by Senator Fifield, is that when the spotlight is put on the Senate chamber it acts responsibly. That is why we could get passage of the RSRT legislation. That is why 35,000 owner-businesses in the trucking industry feel safer today than they did yesterday. That is the first point. The second point is that Labor held firm to their lack of commitment, their lack of resolve, to end corruption in Australia's construction industry. Those two important issues were exposed for the whole country to see yesterday. And we come to the Senate chamber this afternoon and Senator Wong has tried to paint that as some sort of tricky motivation on the part of the government. That is not true. Senator Cameron: You have misled the Governor-General. Senator SMITH: That is not true. I feel embarrassed for Labor. I feel embarrassed for Senator Cameron. Bill Shorten's motivation— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Bilyk! Senator Brandis, you have a point of order? Senator Brandis: Mr Deputy President, Senator Cameron has just reflected upon Senator Smith. His interjection was plainly audible to those of us on this side of the chamber. He said, 'You've mislead the Governor-General.' There could be no more serious allegation against any member of parliament than that they misled the Governor-General. With respect, Mr Acting Deputy President, you should insist that Senator Cameron withdraw without any qualification. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Cameron, I would ask you to withdraw that. I did hear that, and Senator Brandis has brought it to my attention, so I would ask you to withdraw. Senator Cameron: I just want to indicate that I did not reflect individually on the member; I was talking collectively about the government. I withdraw. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Cameron. Senator SMITH: Senator Wong's attempt this afternoon to cast doubt over the motivation of the government in recalling parliament is clearly without substance. The second accusation was that somehow the government has been filibustering this afternoon. I will not bore the Senate with Senator O'Neill's contribution to filibustering that we all had to endure during the last debate on Senate electoral reform—though I could. What was important about Senator O'Neill's contribution—which she did not even reflect on—was that it was a filibustering exercise undertaken by an earlier senator in this place that led to the creation of a standing order putting time restrictions on speeches. So the most fundamental aspect of the filibustering contribution that Senator O'Neill could have reflected on was missed by her. But back to the substance. We had a discussion this afternoon, initiated by Senator Carr, as he is entitled to do, but it went wrong on a couple of accounts. The accusation that Senator Carr was trying to make against the cabinet secretary, Senator Sinodinos, and, by extension, the minister for industry, Mr Pyne, was an accusation that Labor was guilty of—it was revealed by Senator Cormann that 58 per cent of questions had been left unanswered by Labor in the last stages of the Labor government. It was a catastrophic failure on the part of the Australian Labor Party in the Senate. As if yesterday was not bad enough for the people who own and control the Labor movement in this place—the trade unions—today is turning out to be a catastrophic disaster of monumental scale. It was right to recall the parliament. There has been no filibustering. Labor has the whole spotlight— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: The question is that Senator Wong's motion be agreed to.