Senator BOB BROWN (Tasmania—Leader of the Australian Greens) (16:02): Pursuant to contingent notice, I move: That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving a motion relating to the conduct of the business of the Senate, namely a motion to give precedence to general business notice of motion no. 549. I am not surprised that the opposition has sought to not allow a determination on this motion. It will be, of course, treated with some insincere and, I think, non-serious contribution, but Senator Harradine ought to be back in the chamber to contribute to this debate, because he was a person who stood by goodwill being a marker of the difference in the way in which this chamber conducts its affairs. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Those senators not wishing to stay in the chamber and participate or listen to debate, and who are having private conversations, please leave the chamber. Otherwise, be silent so Senator Brown can be heard. Senator Brown, you have the call. Senator BOB BROWN: Senator Harradine told me shortly after I arrived here that this chamber is different to the House in that there is a sense of goodwill here that does not always prevail in the House. Whichever side of the issue you were on yesterday, a hugely important piece of legislation for this nation—that is, the carbon package—had its eventual passage through the Senate. I just did an interview with the BBC and my colleague Senator Milne has been talking with media in New Zealand. It has been written up in today's New York Times. The impact of this legislation is globally important. Yesterday, when the final vote was taken on the legislation, you will know, Mr Deputy President, that the press gallery had more than 40 members—something I have not seen since the passage of the goods and services tax more than a decade ago. It was a major and historic moment for the Greens, and there were quite a number of cameras in the press gallery. Senator Heffernan got from his chair and walked down and stood in front of the contingent of Greens to obscure the cameras making a record of that event as we shook hands and generally were happy that the passage of that legislation had taken place. I am not particularly miffed about whether or not we get coverage obscured, but it was a churlish and childish thing for Senator Heffernan to do. He frequently invades other people's press conferences, other people's moments, book launches and so on. It was rude, if not to the Greens, to the photographers in the gallery, to the cameras here and to the watching and listening public, because it obscured their right to see the events taking place in this chamber. I know that there has been some debate in the other house about similar moves by members of parliament to obscure cameras. I do not understand, frankly, what motivates people to do that, but I think it is below the simple dignity, the reasonableness and the maturity of this chamber to have a senator behave in that fashion. He may— Senator Abetz: Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. In Senator Brown's motion there is no suggestion that the action of which he complains was deliberate. But now he is seeking to impute improper motives to the senator about whose behaviour he complains, and I would ask you to invite the senator to withdraw the reflections—because it is not in the motion. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Abetz, in relation to the debate that is before us, it is about the suspension of standing orders. That is the substance of the debate. But I draw the attention of Senator Brown to the substance of the debate. Senator BOB BROWN: Which is, of course, the matter under discussion. If we do not deal with this today, in circumstances in which the opposition has moved to obstruct a vote on the matter in the chamber, then it will not be relevant to deal with it at some future time. Generally, the behaviour in this chamber has deteriorated rapidly. Opposition senators interjecting— Senator BOB BROWN: Mr Deputy President, I cannot hear myself speak at the moment. Opposition senators interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Those on my left! Senator BOB BROWN: There is a huge amount of noise, interruption, disruption and infringement of the standing orders and it is increasing in this chamber. I am simply making a stand against that in favour of a more decent way of all senators behaving towards all other senators. That is what this motion is about. If you simply ignore an event like that that happened yesterday then you are partly responsible if it recurs. The part of this motion at the end which calls on the opposition to ensure it does not recur is the active part, and I hope they would be in concord with that.