MOTIONS › Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, Australian Greens
Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (11:07): I'll indicate briefly two points. The first is that the government denied leave because we don't believe the Senate's time should continually be taken up by suspensions. We want to get on with debating legislation. I do think it's interesting that the opposition want to talk about this but not actually talk about how we might regulate the CFMEU. I hope for your sake that the delay over the weekend, which has been caused by Senator Cash's stubbornness, has not led to money being transferred that we then find out about. Senator Hume: To you. Senator WONG: You should withdraw that. That is an outrageous thing to say. I have been on the record for years on this issue. Senator Hume: We're talking about donations. What about donations? Senator WONG: We have been clear on that too. The second point I would make is that the government is minded to support the motion, and I would propose to Senator Birmingham that we allow one more speaker from the government on the substance. We would allow a speaker from the Greens, and then we would put the motion to have the vote because we don't want legislative time taken up by further debate on this suspension.