Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (15:03): I seek leave to move a motion regarding the order of call during question time. Leave not granted. Senator RUSTON: Pursuant to contingent notice of motion standing in the name of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, I move: that so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide for consideration of a matter—namely, a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the order of business for the call for question time. Well, once again, we have seen those opposite decide that they're going to come into this chamber and have a childish response to a legitimate motion of the Senate. It's incredibly disappointing. You come in here and you make it sound as though there has never before been any attempt in this chamber to hold a government to account. Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston has moved a suspension, and she will be heard in silence. If you can't be silent, I invite you to leave the chamber. Senator RUSTON: As I was saying, those opposite seem to want to rewrite history here and say that something like this has never occurred before, where a government has been held to account. I'd like to repeat something I put into Hansard last week, when Senator Wong was overseas and not here. I think it is entirely relevant that we read back to Hansard the commentary of Senator Wong in relation to a motion that the opposition at the time, now the government, sought to move at a time they were accusing Senator Cormann of not being transparent when he was not releasing a document. Let's be clear here. The precedent for this particular issue has been set already by those opposite. To remind those opposite, in case you've forgotten from last week, this is what Senator Wong had to say back on 12 February 2020: It is entirely explicable why the government have such an attitude, though. Frankly, they're arrogant. They've been on a victory lap. They think they own the joint. They think that the last election was the last word on accountability. They think they're unbeatable and that, no matter how badly they govern or abuse their office, they can get away with it. That's what they think, and it is reflected in their behaviour. I would remind government ministers that unchecked power never ends well. They were the words of Senator Wong in relation to when a much more aggressive punitive action was threated against Senator Cormann. Quite simply, the easiest way for this impasse to be dealt with is for the government to comply with the order. The minister responsible for this particular document hasn't provided it to the chamber, despite the majority of this chamber saying that she needed to provide this document, a document that she promised to release 2½ years ago and has still not produced to date. It's actually a very sad indictment on the transparency of this government. But the most egregious thing that has happened in this chamber is that the will of this chamber has continually been denied by those opposite. You are behaving like the most arrogant government. You do not believe you need to comply with the orders of this place. This chamber is sovereign. The orders of this chamber, the will of this chamber, should be adhered to. There were a number of people in this chamber, the overwhelming number of people in this chamber— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, I have been listening carefully. I remind you that you are speaking on a suspension motion and you need to demonstrate to the chamber why it's urgent that you need to put aside procedures of the Senate to move the suspension. Senator RUSTON: The reason this suspension is particularly urgent is that there could be nothing more urgent in this place than a government that is abusing its power. Quite frankly, that is nothing more and nothing less than what is happening here. You are a government that came to power promising transparency and accountability, and all you have done is be completely non-transparent and unaccountable, and, in the process of doing that, you are abusing your power. To make things even worse, when the will of the chamber was expressed not in your favour, what did we hear last week? We heard that the Leader of the House, Mr Burke, threatened retribution. The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, you are drifting. The issue before the Senate right now is the suspension motion that you moved. The suspension is saying to the chamber that this matter is so urgent that the rest of the business of the Senate must be put aside for this debate to continue. That's what you need to address. Senator RUSTON: Thank you very much, President, for your ruling. As I said, the reason I believe this suspension is urgent enough to be called at this particular time of the day is that we have a government that is abusing its power. I do not understand how anybody in this chamber could think that the abuse of power by a government was not probably the most serious or egregious thing that could occur in the Parliament of Australia. What we've got here is an ongoing demonstration of the refusal to provide information that is important to the Australian public. We saw last week that the government had refused to provide information about, for example, the incoming government brief about energy policy—the incoming government brief that said your energy policy is failing, emissions are not going down and energy bills are going up. Nothing could be more important to Australians than their ability to pay their bills—nothing could be more important to Australian businesses and the 1,000 people at Tomago who are concerned about their jobs.