Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Assistant Minister for Trade and Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) (15:06): I want to indicate briefly the government's position in relation to this suspension motion and in relation to the bill. It is clear to me, at least, that the government does not have the numbers to defeat this proposition, but I just want to outline who is engaged in this conspiracy to prevent reform in the interests of— Senator Steele-John: Not me! The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Steele-John, I've called you. Senator Steele-John interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Steele-John! Senator Hughes. Senator Hughes: I ask Senator Ayres to withdraw for impugning motive of conspiracy. What a disgrace! What a disgraceful imputation! The PRESIDENT: Senator Hughes, resume your seat. Senator Hughes, there was no reference to you. There was no reference to any senator that I heard. Senator Ayres, please continue. Senator AYRES: It may be clear to some— Senator Hughes: I'm a mother of a participant, you grub! Senator AYRES: who is engaged in this sordid, partisan plot— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ayres, please resume your seat. Senator Hughes, you will come to order! You have a choice to remain here and be silent or to leave the chamber or to make a contribution. Senator Ayres, please continue. Senator AYRES: A sordid, partisan plot—that is exactly what this is. Because what is in the interests of Australians here, and particularly in the interests of disabled people and their families and carers, is that we establish the platform for reform that is set out in this bill. Senator McKim interjecting— Senator AYRES: This has had the broadest consultation of any piece of legislation— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ayres, please resume your seat— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Just as I invited Senator Hughes— Senator Shoebridge interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Shoebridge, I am speaking! Just as I invited Senator Hughes to remain and listen in silence, to leave or to make a contribution by standing and seeking the call, that is exactly what I'm asking all senators in this place to do. Senator Steele-John, I had to call you three or four times in a row. Then I had interjections from Senator McKim and Senator Shoebridge after I had called for order. You are out of order. If you want to make a contribution, stand up and seek the call or signal that you want the call. Senator Ayres. Senator AYRES: I understand, President, that it is uncomfortable having the bitterness, the nastiness and the partisanship of this position here, which is putting the bitterness, the nastiness and the partisanship above the public interest and above the interest of disabled people and their carers. That is what is going on here. The Liberal and National parties have decided to do the same old trick, which is claim that they are interested in working with the government in order to fix this scheme and make sure that it is fit for purpose, that it does what it says it is supposed to do, that the growth in the scheme is moderated in a way that means it supports the Australians who it's designed to support and in the way that it's designed to support them and that it's fit for the future so that disabled people and their families can count on it. So they say that but then work with the party that will never agree to decent reform in this area—will never agree and will always position. So the two of them united together are out there trying to scare disabled Australians and to frighten communities about what is contained in this bill. The other thing that unites them is the dishonesty of that position. Senator Steele-John interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Steele-John! Senator AYRES: What it will mean is that, while this is going out to some new Senate committee process— Senator Steele-John interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ayres, please resume your seat. Senator Steele-John, you are being incredibly disrespectful. I have called for order. As I said before, you have a choice. You can listen in silence, you can leave the chamber or you can seek to make a contribution. Senator Ayres. Senator AYRES: I have watched the contributions of various senators who have been engaged in this over some time. I have watched them. This is the apotheosis of those contributions—partisanship over the interests of ordinary Australians who have a disability, who need the support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and who need the certainty of a scheme for the future that will deliver. All this is about is crude politics and trying to position in the last half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. There is no interest in the public policy outcome and no interest in engaging with families and stakeholders. I know that it may be a futile task here, but my job is to ask people in this place to reflect on their duty to ordinary Australians—to disabled Australians, in particular—and to put the public interest first. But I know that, when the sordid partisan fix is in, the fix is in.