Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (09:43): This is an important reform to a part of the day that has completely got out of control. Senator Birmingham is absolutely right; this is about the part of the day in which we should be dealing with motions that do not require debate. Increasingly, over recent years, this part of the day has been used and abused for a purpose that it was never intended for. Let's be very clear. There is no limit to the amount of motions that can be moved—no limit. You can move as many motions— Senator Rice: On a point of order, Deputy President: Minister Cormann is misleading the Senate, because this motion limits the number of motions. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Rice, please resume your seat. That is a debating point. Senator CORMANN: For the information of all senators—in particular, Senator Rice—let me repeat it, again. There is no limit, no limit at all, to the number of motions that can be moved. There will be a limit to the number of motions that can be considered without debate. There will be a limit to the number of motions that can be considered without amendment, because the only way you can amend a formal business motion is with the leave of every single senator in this chamber. To give you a parallel, there is no limit to the number of questions that you can ask—no limit—but there is a limit to how many questions can be considered within one hour between 2 pm and 3 pm every day during a sitting week. That is the orderly business of the Senate. We're in a chamber where nobody has a majority. We do have to work with each other and we do have to treat each other with the appropriate level of courtesy in making this place work. An honourable senator interjecting— Senator CORMANN: Well, the time of the day when we're dealing with formal business motions no longer works. It hasn't worked for some time. We have resisted, for a long time, the need to reform this part of the day. We have been reluctant to touch it. But you know what? We've been dealing with more than 50-odd motions, with hours and hours of motions that should not be dealt with without debate and without— Senator Waters: A point of order, Deputy President: the reason there have been a few more motions lately is because we are barely here, because this government has shut down parliament. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Waters, that is a debating point. Senator CORMANN: Again, whether it is speeches on legislation or whether it is the handling of questions in question time or whether it is across a whole range of areas, we are making arrangements procedurally to ensure that this place can still get the business of the nation done, and this part of the day, quite frankly, was inappropriately interrupting getting the business of the nation done. There is nothing unusual in putting some frameworks and processes and disciplines in place, and, as Senator Birmingham also rightly pointed out, in drafting this motion the government and the opposition have been incredibly courteous and respectful to the crossbench because we are giving the crossbench a disproportionate amount of opportunity to move formal motions. If it was reflected purely on proportionality grounds—purely on the grounds of how many senators are represented in this chamber as a result of the election by the Australian people—you would have fewer opportunities to move motions without debate. I understand that, for political purposes, it suits crossbenchers on occasions to move motions where they don't want to have a debate where the details can be nuanced and fleshed out in a properly argued argument. Maybe sometimes there is a political interest in trying to simplify things into yes and no. But, to be honest, the nation is not in a better space the day after those sorts of motions are dealt with when they can't actually be dealt with by yes and no. This formal motions space was there for a particular purpose. It has been used and abused. It was in need of reform. This is a temporary measure. It is a measure that we are putting in place until the end of the sittings in May 2021. The Procedure Committee will have the opportunity to review the operation of the new arrangements, and of course motions on legislation and motions in relation to committee business are excluded. The fundamental point that I'll repeat again is that there is no limit to the amount of motions that you can put forward, but there will be a limit to the amount of motions that you can bring to this floor for them to be dealt with without debate and without being able to amend them unless you have the leave of every single senator in this chamber. We think it is a sensible reform to try and improve the operation of that part of the day. Let's just remind ourselves we are here to get the business of the nation done. We're not here to waste our time playing politics.