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

I move:

That the member for Calwell do take the chair of this House as Speaker.

The member for Calwell and I have not always agreed on every issue, I think it is fair to say, particularly on issues to do with the Middle East, but I know that if the member for Calwell was prepared to recognise her own ability and understand that she could be the Speaker of this place then she would accept the nomination of the opposition to take the chair of this House as Speaker. The member for Calwell is another member of the Labor Party who serves on the Speaker's panel and has done so in this minority parliament. You would assume, Mr Clerk, that every member of the Speaker's panel who is a member of the Labor party would recognise that they were worthy enough to be members of the Speaker's panel and thereby one day to be Speaker of this parliament. Is there no-one in the Labor Party who believes that they have the ability or the honour to take the role as Speaker of this parliament?

I would appeal to the member for Calwell, who has been in this parliament since 2001, for 10 years, to recognise that by accepting this nomination today as Speaker of the parliament that she would be supporting the traditions of this place that she has vowed to uphold before. She has given many speeches in this place—as has the member for Chisholm, the member for Reid, the member for Hindmarsh, the member for Capricornia, the member for Lyons—about the importance of the Westminster tradition, the importance of the parliamentary system and the importance of democracy to this place. Fine words, but today is the day to back them with action: not to come into this place with syrupy words and drop those words into Hansard, but to back them with action when they are put to the test. I put all these members to the test today and I am putting the member for Calwell to the test and ask her if she will back her good intentions with the action to support the traditions of this parliament.

The Clerk: Is the motion seconded?

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