Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aviation and Transport Security) Share this | Hansard source

I have a question to you, Mr Speaker, which relates to some incidents yesterday in relation to a second reading amendment I proposed to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing legislation. You may be aware that my office submitted a second reading amendment. We were advised that that was inappropriate and that you had ruled that certain words must be removed from the second reading amendment. I have two questions in relation to this matter. The first is that you required that the word ‘Howard’ be removed, that it was not possible to move a second reading amendment referring to the ‘Howard government’. I seek your advice as to which standing order or procedure required the removal of the description ‘Howard’ in front of ‘government’, given that it is a phrase commonly used in question time and indeed at most points during the day of the parliament. In what way was that out of order? Which standing order did you rely upon to demand that I remove that word? Secondly, you required that the amendment as submitted be altered so that it did not refer to the Howard government’s base corruption in relation to the AWB and instead that words along the lines of ‘the government’s collaboration with the AWB’ be inserted. Again I ask: which standing order did you rely upon to determine that the second reading amendment was out of order, given that it was a matter being moved, debated and voted upon and was not an allegation being made against any member of the parliament?

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