Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

We will see how we go and how the opposition is behaving. These changes will mean that the divisions and quorums process, which at the moment is suspended between 6.30 pm and 8 pm, will be moved to between 7.30 pm and 9 pm. So there will be no divisions or quorums between 7.30 pm and 9 pm, rather than between 6.30 pm and 8 pm. So it is the same period of time and the same amount of government business can be done. Simply, between 7.30 and nine o'clock there will be no divisions or quorums except when we achieve leave of the opposition. There may be occasions when there does need to be a bill passed, particularly around national security issues. That is often the case when that happens. When we need to do that we will seek leave of the opposition to do so, and by leave a division might be held.

This will mean that between 7.30 and nine o'clock on Mondays and Tuesdays members of parliament will be able to do their committee work, whether it is for standing committees of the House, joint standing committees with the Senate or backbench committees, without interruption. Ministers will be able to hold meetings without interruption for divisions and quorums, as will other members of the House. It makes for a much more sensible way of doing government business—and opposition business, for that matter—and much better management of the House and the parliament. I think it will lead to better outcomes for the government and also for the health of members.

Of course, the 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm period is usually called the dinner break. I do not know of any members who actually leave the House during that time but I am sure there are some. I do not and I cannot remember the last time I did, quite frankly. It is probably not since before I was first a minister—or shadow minister, for that matter—which is now over 10 years. There was an interregnum. There was the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd interregnum, which I have tried to keep out of my memory bank; that was an unpleasant period. Most people do not use that time for a dinner break, and this will move it to a more sensible time. People who have dinner in the House will be able to do so without being interrupted. So I do commend the change to the standing orders to the House. I think it will be wildly popular with the people who work in this building. And I thank the opposition for their bipartisan support for this change.

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