Sex Discrimination Amendment (Restoring Biological Definitions) Bill 2025

Senator SCARR (Queensland—Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (12:03): I seek leave to make a short statement. The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for one minute. Senator SCARR: While the Senate has the opportunity to reject a bill at the first reading stage, in practice, the first reading is almost always passed without opposition and is regarded as a purely formal stage.

The coalition support these normal procedures as we have with many Greens, Labor or crossbench bills that we strongly opposed. The normal process enables bills to be fairly considered and debated by the Senate before a substantive decision is taken. It should only be deviated from in the most extreme of circumstances, lest we deny the right of senators to even have matters debated.

As in all cases, a vote on the first reading should not be taken as a position on the substantive legislation, especially where a bill has not had the opportunity to be the subject of normal internal processes.