Senator SIEWERT (Western Australia—Australian Greens Whip) (11:58): I am disappointed that this is coming at this time, nearly Thursday afternoon. It has caught people unawares. They are largely noncontroversial bills, but No. 2, the VET Student Loans Bill, is not noncontro. I appreciate that there will be no divisions, because you are not seeking to change the practice of not having divisions after 4.30 pm, but that is an important bill and it is controversial so I am concerned about that particular bill being there. I know that the government already has the opposition onside, giving up general business, but I would like to lodge our strong concern about the timing of this and the fact that this proposal is too cute by half—the government took noncontro bills out of where you do noncontro and put in backpackers, because they have not been able to manage their legislative agenda, and then put them in general business time and added on a bill that is controversial. I realise we will not be doing any divisions, but it is too cute by half to be putting that on near six o'clock on a Thursday night when senators were not expecting it to be brought on at that time. I am disappointed to be receiving notice of this so late, on a Thursday afternoon, when everybody knows that people have travel arrangements et cetera to take care of. The government did not mention this in 'whips' last night, which is the forum where we organise the management of the chamber. They gave up the non-controversial spot to address backpackers. We do need to. There has been a lot of effort in this chamber to get backpackers on the agenda. So they gave up their non-controversial time and now are seeking to use general business time, which is non-government time, to pursue these bills, because they have not been able to manage their legislative agenda. Senator FIFIELD: If no other colleagues are contributing I will sum up. Senator Siewert, I acknowledge that this motion has come late in the piece. It does on occasion happen that there are changes that are agreed to only very shortly before the appropriate time to move the relevant motions. I do acknowledge what you have said about the short notice, but nothing was intended by that. It was simply a function of the fact that it is only very recently that this agreement has been reached. In terms of whips not mentioning anything at cross-party 'whips' last night, this was not a live proposition at that time. So there was no withholding of anything by whips. In terms of the law enforcement legislation amendment bill, my understanding is that the bill is non-controversial, from consultations with groupings in the Senate, but, Senator Siewert, I obviously will take it at face value that there are issues the Greens have— Senator Siewert: I didn't saying anything just then about that; I said the VET bill. Senator FIFIELD: I misheard you. It was only the first four bills that I referred to as non-controversial. Senator Siewert: I know that. Senator FIFIELD: Thank you. So we are where we are. I thank my colleagues for their forbearance here. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Just for clarity, Senator Siewert said 'bill No. 2'. I certainly understood. Senator Fifield interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes. The question now is that the motion, as moved by the minister, which I understand has been circulated in the chamber, which substitutes government business for general business, between 4:30 and 6:00 pm, with the no-divisions rule still applying. Question agreed to.