Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I move as an amendment to the motion of the Leader of the House:

That the following words be added to the motion:And (2) That the private members’ business item No. 3, the Joint Select Committee on Broadband motion standing in the name of the member for Wentworth; and No. 7, the mental health motion standing in the name of the member for Dickson as listed in the Notice Paper, be returned from the Main Committee and considered immediately.

The reason I move this amendment is that there is a disagreement between the Leader of the House and the opposition over the effect of the House Standing Committee on Selection’s decisions made earlier this week about when matters should be brought on for a vote. The opposition had an understanding, and I believe it is confirmed by the minutes of that meeting and the letter from Robyn McClelland, the secretary of the committee, to the Leader of the House. This could well be a misunderstanding between us and the government, but we believe that right is on our side and we believe that these two motions should be brought on for voting today. Our understanding of the decisions of the Selection Committee—which you chair, Mr Speaker—is that there were five items that were determined to be voted upon this week. The debates had been completed on Monday, and on Tuesday the Selection Committee made a determination that the three items that the Leader of the House has listed for voting today, plus the mental health motion that the member for Dickson moved and the NBN committee motion that the member for Wentworth has debated this week, should all be voted upon on Thursday. It is also our understanding that there were another five items that would be voted upon next week, after the debates have been completed—issues like, for example, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Public Health and Safety) Bill, which was moved by the member for Cowper—

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