Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended to enable the following to occur during the periods set aside in standing order 34 for government business on Wednesday 14 June and Thursday 15 June 2006:

(1)

in relation to proceedings on the Fuel Tax Bill 2006 at the conclusion of the second reading debate or at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday 14 June 2006, whichever is the earlier, a Minister to be called to sum up (for a period not exceeding 5 minutes) the second reading debate and thereafter, without delay, the immediate question before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate and any Government amendment that has been circulated for at least two hours shall be treated as if it has been moved; and

(2)

immediately after proceedings on the Fuel Tax Bill 2006 have been concluded; the Fuel Tax (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2006 to be called on and the immediate question then before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate and any Government amendments that have been circulated for at least two hours shall be treated as if they have been moved together; and

(3)

in relation to proceedings on the Tax Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2006 at the conclusion of the second reading debate or at 12 noon on Wednesday 14 June 2006, whichever is the earlier, a Minister to be called to sum up (for a period not exceeding 5 minutes) the second reading debate and thereafter, without delay, the immediate question before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate; and

(4)

in relation to proceedings on the Tax Laws Amendment (2006 Measures No. 3) Bill 2006 at the conclusion of the second reading debate or at 1.30 p.m. on Wednesday 14 June 2006, whichever is the earlier, a Minister to be called to sum up (for a period not exceeding 5 minutes) the second reading debate and thereafter, without delay, the immediate question before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate and any Government amendments that have been circulated for at least two hours shall be treated as if they have been moved together; and

(5)

immediately after proceedings on the Tax Laws Amendment (2006 Measures No. 3) Bill 2006 have been concluded; the New Business Tax System (Untainting Tax) Bill 2006 to be called on and the immediate question then before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate; and

(6)

in relation to proceedings on the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Amendment Bill 2006 at the conclusion of the second reading debate or at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday 14 June 2006, whichever is the earlier, a Minister to be called to sum up (for a period not exceeding 5 minutes) the second reading debate and thereafter, without delay, the immediate question before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate; and

(7)

immediately after proceedings on the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Amendment Bill 2006 have been concluded; the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (Instalment Transfer Interest Charge Imposition) Bill 2006 to be called on and the immediate question then before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate; and

(8)

in relation to proceedings on the Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2006 at the conclusion of the second reading debate or at 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday 14 June 2006, whichever is the earlier, a Minister to be called to sum up (for a period not exceeding 5 minutes) the second reading debate and thereafter, without delay, the immediate question before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate; and

(9)

in relation to proceedings on the Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill 2006 at the conclusion of the second reading debate or at 1.20 p.m. on Thursday 15 June 2006, whichever is the earlier, a Minister to be called to sum up (for a period not exceeding 5 minutes) the second reading debate and thereafter, without delay, the immediate question before the House to be put, then any question or questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of the bill to be put without amendment or debate; and

(10)

on Wednesday 14 June 2006 any division called for between 12 noon and 2.30 pm shall be deferred until the resumption of government business after the discussion of the Matter of Public Importance has concluded that day; and

(11)

any variation to this arrangement to be made only by a Minister moving a motion without notice.

I do not propose to spend an enormous amount of time debating this, simply to say that the government regrets the need to somewhat curtail debate on these bills but believes that the amount of time allocated is sufficient to do reasonable justice to the bills in question. The bills in question are reasonably straightforward. Except for the Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill 2006, the bills are unlikely to excite great passion. The government did propose to the opposition that we could somewhat extend sitting times and accommodate the very large number of people that the opposition had placed on the speakers list if there had been a preparedness on the part of the opposition to limit contributions to 10 minutes, but the opposition was unwilling to accept that. Therefore, we are proposing to go down this path. As I said, the government regrets any limitation on debate; nevertheless we do believe this proposal allows matters to be adequately debated given the issues in question. I commend the motion to the House.

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