julia's wedding bells?, page-11

Thats got to be the silliest statement on the workings of the Senate. Of course Labor is more likely to get its agenda through given the Greens and Labor outnumber the coalition. However it can only pass legislation put up by the Government-the Labor government. Everyone knows that if the Greens tried to somehow put up something too radical the Coalition and Labor combined would not pass it in the Senate. Some Greens amendments to legislation have failed in the past because Labor and the Coalition combined to vote against them.

Also it needs to be remembered that a converse situation equally applies. Had the Coalition got the nod from the independendets it still faced the Greens scrutiny in the Senate and if the Greens did not support their legislation it would have needed Labors support to do so. Neither Labor nor the coalition would IMO sign up to pass legislation that does not have good support in the community.

The tenor of the coalition posts here do not take into account the fact that Coalition and Labor combined are the real power in the Senate and the safeguard to prevent extremely contentious measures getting through.