Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

You should try it sometime, I say to the member for Indi. She is on to us! I am nice to the member for New England because he is a good bloke.

We have circumstances here that are precisely those circumstances that were envisaged, covered and signed off in the agreement for parliamentary reform. They are covered by the standing orders before the parliament and, in terms of process, we should really not be wasting the parliament's time. There should be an automatic recommittal as long as people are prepared to put on the record the reason for their absence. I have done that in an appropriate way on behalf of the five members who were absent from the division. It is appropriate that that be done but these are circumstances which are clearly understandable given the fact that, if you are in this building, it is a normal expectation that you will hear the bells ring.

It is also the case, in terms of the procedure, that the standing order which is relevant—standing order 132—was unanimously adopted by this House. No-one has said that it should not be so. No-one has said that it is inappropriate. Indeed, I am somewhat surprised because I expected this would happen automatically. The Manager of Opposition Business knows that if you have a majority for a particular proposition you can achieve an outcome—so it can be done more quickly or it can be done more slowly, in terms of the process, if you have a majority.

In terms of this legislation the opposition amendment does not have a majority of members of the House of Representatives and the bill does have majority support of the House of Representatives. If those are the circumstances and you have support for that, then we can either do it the easier way or do it in a much more prolonged way to achieve the same outcome. That is why the standing orders reflect this change. I commend the motion to the House.

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