Senator LUDWIG (Queensland—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Manager of Government Business in the Senate and Minister Assisting the Attorney-General on Queensland Floods Recovery) (09:42): We all seem to enjoy a bit of sport in this place sometimes. I think in this instance this is rank hypocrisy from the opposition in relation to this. Senator Abetz: You reported me to the Privileges Committee for a matter like this. Senator LUDWIG: I listened to you in silence and I would ask you to respond in kind. You come in here without notice, without the courtesy of telling the Manager of Government Business in the Senate that you are going to undertake this work. If you want to talk about rank hypocrisy then I think it is reasonable to say that if you do want to undertake— Senator Ronaldson: Who are you addressing? Senator LUDWIG: If the opposition— Senator Abetz: A point of order, Mr Deputy President: I have suffered a lecture from the Manager— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: There is no point of order, Senator Abetz. Senator Abetz: The point of order is that the Manager of Government Business is trying to tell us how to abide by the procedures— Senator LUDWIG: That is not a point of order. Senator Abetz: it is; just hear me out—of this place and one of the most fundamental of them all is that you address your comments through the chair and not directly at senators. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: The substance of the point of order is that all senators should direct their comments through the chair. Senator Ludwig, you have the call. Senator LUDWIG: In my response, Mr Deputy President, that is precisely what I was doing. I used the term, Mr Deputy President, because Senator Abetz has come in here without notice and moved a motion to take away the opportunity for this Senate to deal with private senators' business, to deal with legislation. Of course, Senator Abetz has also removed the opportunity—which Senator Abetz has named himself—for an explanation, because there are many ways in which this may be dealt with other than by upsetting this Senate through a procedural motion to direct a specific senator to undertake a particular task. That is a ridiculous position to put any senator in. There are many opportunities to have the Senate deal with this issue. As Senator Abetz indicated, one avenue is privilege. Senator Abetz would understand that, having had— Opposition senators interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order, senators! Senator LUDWIG: And the opposition should let me get to that point, but they cannot. They want to continue to shout and complain. If they had listened to me in the first place, I would have gone on to say that Senator Abetz did face up to the issue, did face up to Privileges, did explain his position and did take the proper course in all of that. The Godwin Grech issue was not something that anyone would be proud of in this place, but Senator Abetz did face the music in respect of that matter—and we did not, from the position of opposition or from government, undertake this particular task. We gave senators an opportunity to respond in this place or referred them or used the procedures in this place to deal with it rather than walking in here without notice and using this opportunity as a stunt to run a couple of arguments. It was not only the argument in relation to the substantive matter that you are seeking to suspend standing orders over; you then tied in your complete negativity in relation to the clean energy bills. You just want to come in here and say no. All that Mr Abbott wants to do in relation to that legislation is say no. What the opposition are doing is rank hypocrisy—to come in here and undertake this task without giving the Senate an opportunity to deal with it in the usual way. You want to simply rerun your hatred of and pathological difficulties with the Greens from the opposition, it appears. That is all it seems to be and what you simply want to do. Senator Abetz: So you don't have a dislike of the Greens; that's interesting. Senator LUDWIG: Not a personal one. We differ on policy. We differ on a range of matters. And you would see that come through in many of the debates that we have opposed in relation to the Greens' policy or the opposition's policy. But we do not take a personal view, which is what seems to be reflected in this motion. We do not take a personal view. Why? Because senators in this place have a responsibility at first principles. You have not allowed that to occur and you should. You should take that position rather than sneak in here without notice and throw a motion on the table, because that is in effect what you have done. (Time expired)