Senator O'NEILL (New South Wales) (16:46): I rise to speak against the suspension of standing orders. Senator Brandis: Do you have new points to make? Senator O'NEILL: That is a very good question, Senator Brandis. Yes, we have plenty of new points to make, and we may indeed have many more new points to make if we get a look at the deals that are being constructed around this building right now. But the chance to properly scrutinise any of the amendments coming forward is something that you are trying to interrupt through this process right now. I have not been in this chamber to see some of the things that you guys have been talking about as practice of the Senate, but I have been in classrooms for 20 years, and I know how important it is— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Marshall ): Senator Macdonald, on a point of order? Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr Acting Deputy President, three times you have warned senators to address their remarks through you, for an appropriate reason, that is so that we can get on with the debate. Could you tell this speaker to do the same? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I ask all senators to direct their comments to the chair. Senator O'NEILL: I have been in classrooms for 20 years, and I know the importance of the debate that should be had around this piece of legislation and the amendments that we hear are in the wind and that apparently are going to land here at some point in time. The level of scrutiny that they need to have cannot be enabled by having an hours motion to help us debate them through the night. They need far more scrutiny. Senator Brandis, you actually said that it has taken half a century to get to this point. You think that that is a good achievement. If it is that significant, if it has taken 50 years to get to this point, we should not be deciding it in one night. We should not be deciding it with senators sleeping on their benches, coming in here and getting half the information. If we go to the reality of the way in which this government has dealt with every sector that is impacted—the government sector, the independent sector and the Catholic sector—we know why they want to get out of here in a hurry, and why the members of the crossbench should not facilitate it. This should not be facilitated, because there does need to be proper scrutiny. The department itself, who has actually told us the truth when the minister has not provided the evidence, has said that this does not have to come in to be resolved until the spring sitting. As a teacher, for all the teachers and all the parents who have contacted me and your offices, you should reject this. It is so important for all the children of this country that we give this bill proper and fair scrutiny, not through the middle of the night. This is a dirty arrangement that is not necessary. This does not need to happen until September, and it is only happening because the government think they can corral the group of people in this room and make a decision and that is a better chance of getting a deal with you right now than if they have to go out and actually speak to the stakeholders that they have so offended in the process of coming to this moment. The PRESIDENT: Is there a point of order, Senator Macdonald? Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr President, the chair has already warned speakers five times that they should address their remarks through the chair. They do that for a purpose, which is so that the debate can proceed on a proper basis. I ask you to ask speakers to address their remarks to the chair. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Macdonald. That is correct. All senators must address their comments to the chair—not through the chair but to the chair, and not across the chamber. Senator O'Neill. Senator O'NEILL: I would indeed appreciate proper debate, particularly on a bill of such importance as this. Senator Brandis: Well, vote for the motion. Senator O'NEILL: What you are proposing is not proper debate, Senator Brandis. This government actually believes that they can corral and get a vote in here tonight, and they want that to happen. They do not want to take their department's advice, which is to wait until 1 September. They think they can push this deal through now, because if they do that they will not have to speak to the National Catholic Education Commission, nor to the teachers across this country, nor to the representatives of every state and territory P&C and answer their questions. They will not have their dodgy figures scrutinised over the next few weeks. They are trying to snow the Senate. They are trying to suppress debate and proper scrutiny by pushing this through in the most outrageous manner. There are some bills where I suppose this happens, but we are talking about the children of this nation. Fifty years in the making, Senator Brandis says. We can afford more than a couple of hours in the dark to make this dirty decision of this government. They have not proven they are worthy of the trust of the crossbench. They have betrayed promise after promise, and they have misled person after person and they have denied access to information. They stood up in here today and indicated that they were going to answer questions, but we have not even been able to get the documents with the facts. That is why you should not trust them to do this dirty deal in the next couple of days. We as the Senate should not be responsible. We need to get the whole of the community involved in the next three months, until September, to have a look at what this government proposes to ensure they are not pulling a swifty on anybody in this chamber. It is wrong. We should not support the suspension of the standing orders. (Time expired)