Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I did mention earlier that if a point of order were to be of a frivolous nature or meant to disrupt the orderly business of the parliament then I would not entertain that point of order. The point is that for the many years that both you and I have been in this House the practice has been to put the bills at the end of the table where they are readily available to members. That has been a practice that has been accepted by the members of the House for many years, and I say that that is meeting the requirements for the purposes of this House.

Now, if the Manager of Opposition Business wishes to persist in a manner that will disturb the business of the House, we will have to deal with it—as we will have to deal with any disorderly conduct from the galleries above. So I suggest that in the interests of this place we should let the business of the House proceed. We have had a display of the new, energetic nature of the opposition and entertained that this morning. And I think now it is proper that the business of the House proceed.

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