Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

As a member of the Standing Committee on Selection who was there yesterday and who was appealed to by the Manager of Opposition Business, it is certainly my recollection that the Selection Committee did not determine yesterday that there would be a vote on the mental health motion today—the Selection Committee cannot do that—and that the first time a vote was requested was in fact yesterday, not the week before. I am more than happy to talk to the Manager of Opposition Business about whether we might amend the standing orders to give the Selection Committee the power to say when votes are going to be held, but at the moment a strict interpretation of the agreement, as I read it, is that it is in the government’s prerogative, that this is in accordance with the procedure that has happened to date and that nothing unusual is happening. I will not be supporting the amendment.

Question put:

That the words proposed to be added (Mr Pyne’s amendment) be so added.

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