Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

You would like the quote? I am sorry; I did not realise that you did not have the quote. It was in the Australian on 11 February 2008. The member for Leichhardt says that they are going to ‘shoot through’ on Thursday night and head home while shifting time for members of the opposition to Fridays.

The time for private members’ business has now been downgraded to the point where it is in danger of irrelevance, which is no doubt the real motivation of the government as it tries to clean up this mess. Private members’ business on Friday will be prevented from having a division or, indeed, a quorum. Does this mean that, if one member wishes to speak on a Friday, every other member can leave the building? Does this mean that the $1 million that it costs to keep this place operating on a Friday will be for one person? The Prime Minister’s whim has added to that operating cost simply because of his thirst for another cheap headline.

The answer to the question is in fact in the House of Representatives Practice. At the commencement of each sitting day, the Speaker takes the chair. If a quorum, currently one-fifth of members, is not present, the bells are rung for five minutes and if a quorum is not present after the bills have been rung, the Speaker adjourns the House until the next sitting day. The member for Chifley says, ‘Don’t worry; we’ll have 30 people here at the commencement of Friday sitting days.’ That raises a concern which is troubling my legal mind. I ask the Leader of the House to answer this question: if a quorum is called on a Friday morning and then deferred—

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