Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

he did retire and he did stand down from that role. What we see here is something that you almost never see from a government. You see, there is a reason why governments do not normally move a suspension of standing orders to debate a political issue of the day. The reason, complex as it is, is that normally they are governing. Normally on that side of the chamber they have government business to get through. Normally on that side of the chamber they have a budget that they are proud of. Normally on that side of the chamber they actually want to talk about their own agenda. But such is the embarrassment of those opposite that they have decided it is more exciting to try to get a gotcha moment on one point in a 15-minute speech.

As I said earlier, if that detail was wrong then I apologise for that. But it was only one of the many issues that I referred to. What I do not resile from for one minute is that this issue should have been referred to the Privileges Committee. What I do not resile from for one minute, Madam Speaker, is that you should have done what other Speakers would do, and that was actually reflect on the issue, get advice from the clerks and then report back to the House. It was completely open to you, Madam Speaker, after that resolution yesterday, at that opportunity yesterday, to reflect on it and to come back—even if the clerks had said that they did not believe there was a matter of privilege—and to say that, given it referred to you, you would give it to the committee anyway. They would do a quick inquiry and report back.

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