Senator BERNARDI (South Australia) (18:06): I have sat here through a debate which seems entirely irrational, given that the government of the day is perfectly entitled to put forward its agenda for this Senate to consider. The simple fact that Senator Wong denied leave when the Manager of Government Business sought to rearrange the Senate procedure for this evening shows how intractable, intransigent and stubborn those on the opposition benches are. Let me remind you, Mr Acting Deputy President, and the Australian people: at the last election not only did the coalition go to the Australian people and say, 'We will abolish the carbon tax,' but so did the Labor Party then in government. They went and said: 'We've abolished it. We've finished the carbon tax. It's no longer there.' They might try to hide the facts, but they cannot hide from their own dysfunctional rhetoric. Now here they are after promising the Australian people the carbon tax was gone, abolished, mothballed, extinguished, dead, buried and cremated—whatever you want to call it. The fact is that it was not. It was just another falsehood and another bunch of nonsense that was peddled by the Labor Party just like in the election before, when they promised through their Prime Minister there was going to be no carbon tax under a government she led. The Australian people are mightily sick of this. They are heartily sick of the hypocrisy that we have seen from the Labor Party and their associates in the Greens. We know the Greens are wedded to bigger taxes. We know the Greens are wedded to this climate change religion, if I can call it that. But what we do not know is why they will not allow the government of the day to put forward their legislative agenda. What is wrong with having the debate about it? What is wrong with having the second reading discussions about it? Senator Singh: It's called process, Cory. Senator BERNARDI: What is wrong with having an appropriate process? This is the point, Senator Singh. The point is we are asking for a debate on it, and then we can have a discussion and a vote, and the democracy of this Senate can rule accordingly. But what I have heard tonight is that we are undermining democracy—this from Senator Milne, the person who helped the government guillotine hundreds of bills in the last parliament. We had 56 bills that went through this place in a week with not one ounce of debate on them, and that was to the eternal shame of the Labor Party and the Greens. And now what do we have? We want to have a substantive debate about the most significant issue that the Australian people voted on at the last election. No, it was not Ms Gillard. No, it was not about her nonsense or the failings and dysfunction of the government. It was about the carbon tax. That was the seminal issue at the last election, and I dare anyone to challenge us on that. The Australian people understand perfectly that they were voting to get rid of a carbon tax. When they did, what do we have? We have the opposition, who want to stand in the road of democracy. I have heard Senator Wong argue before about Senate committees and things like that. You know what? When something goes to a legislative committee, the numbers are there with the government. The government senators of the day are perfectly entitled to rule accordingly, just like on the references committees, where the opposition have the numbers and they use those to effect. On the committee system: we try to do the right thing. We try to be fair. I am chair of a committee and I try to do the right thing, but we cannot stand in the way of the will of the Australian people simply because the bleating forces on the other side demand to be heard. I am heartily sick of the hypocrisy of the other side, and so are the Australian people. Senator Singh: You should have come out and talked with the 200 young people this morning. Senator BERNARDI: Senator Singh, thank you for your interjections. I know you are new to this whole climate change passion you have picked up from your frontbench portfolio, but might I say— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Whish-Wilson ): Senator Bernardi, direct your comments through the chair, please. Senator BERNARDI: Indeed I will. Might I say to you—so that Senator Singh might remind herself—that at the last election she was part of the gang that said the carbon tax was already gone. They can deny that. They can deny their own advertising, but to do so is denying any integrity that I thought might have resided on that side. The opportunity is there for them to prove it right now. Prove they are people of their word. Let them say: 'The Australian people voted for this. I'm going to stand up and I'm going to vote in accordance with our policy at the last election.' The PRESIDENT: The question is that the motion moved by Senator Fifield to suspend standing orders be agreed to.