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

I move:

That standing orders 29, 31, 34, 55, 133, 192 and 192 (b) be amended in the terms as registered on the Notice Paper:

29    Set meeting and adjournment times

(a) The House shall meet each year in accordance with the program of sittings for that year agreed to by the House, unless otherwise ordered and subject to standing order 30.

(b) When the House is sitting it shall meet and adjourn at the following times, subject to standing orders 30, 31 and 32:

31    Automatic adjournment of the House

(a) At the time set for the adjournment to be proposed in standing order 29, column 3 (set meeting and adjournment times) the Speaker shall propose the question—

That the House do now adjourn.

This question shall be open to debate and no amendment may be moved.

(b) If this question is before the House at the time set for adjournment in standing order 29, column 4 (set meeting and adjournment times), or if the debate concludes prior to this time, the Speaker shall immediately adjourn the House until the time of its next meeting.

(c) The following qualifications apply:

Division is completed

  (i) If there is a division at the time set for the adjournment to be proposed in standing order 31(a), that division, and any consequent division, shall be completed.

Minister may require question to be put immediately

  (ii) If a Minister requires the question to be put immediately it is proposed under paragraph (a), the Speaker must put the question immediately and without debate.

Only a Minister may move closure of question

  (iii) Notwithstanding the provisions of standing order 81, only a Minister may move during the adjournment debate—

        That the question be now put.

        The question must be put immediately and resolved without amendment or debate.

Minister may extend debate

  (iv) Before the Speaker adjourns the House under paragraph (b), a Minister may ask for the debate to be extended by 10 minutes to enable Ministers to speak in reply to matters raised during the debate. After 10 minutes, or if debate concludes earlier, the Speaker shall immediately adjourn the House until the time set for its next meeting.

Question negatived

  (v) If the question is negatived, the House shall resume proceedings from the point of interruption.

Unfinished business

  (vi) If the business being debated is not disposed of when the adjournment of the House is proposed, the business shall be listed on the Notice Paper for the next sitting.

34    Order of business

The order of business to be followed by the House is shown in figure 2.

Figure 2. House order of business

55    Lack of quorum

(a) When the attention of the Speaker is drawn to the state of the House and the Speaker observes that a quorum is not present, the Speaker shall count the Members present in accordance with standing order 56.

(b) On Mondays, if any Member draws the attention of the Speaker to the state of the House between 10 am and 12 noon, the Speaker shall announce that he or she will count the House at 12 noon, if the Member then so desires.

(c) On Tuesdays, if any Member draws the attention of the Speaker to the state of the House prior to 2 pm, the Speaker shall announce that he or she will count the House after the discussion of the matter of public importance, if the Member then so desires.

(d) If a quorum is in fact present when a Member draws attention to the state of the House, the Speaker may name the Member in accordance with standing order 94(b) (sanctions against disorderly conduct).

133        Deferred divisions on Mondays and Tuesdays

(a) On Mondays, any division called for between the hours of 10 am and 12 noon shall be deferred until 12 noon, except for a division called on a motion moved by a Minister during this period.

(b) On Tuesdays, any division called for prior to 2 pm shall be deferred until after the discussion of the matter of public importance, except for a division called on a motion moved by a Minister during this period.

(c) The Speaker shall put all questions on which a division has been deferred, successively and without amendment or further debate.

192        Federation Chamber’s indicative order of business

The normal order of business of the Federation Chamber is set out in figure 4.

Figure 4. Federation Chamber indicative order of business

The meeting times of the Federation Chamber are fixed by the Deputy Speaker and are subject to change. Times shown for the start and finish of items of business are approximate. Adjournment debates can occur on days other than Thursdays by agreement between the Whips.

192b    Grievance debate

(a) The order of the day for the grievance debate stands referred to the Federation Chamber and shall be taken as the final item of business each Tuesday.

(b) After the Deputy Speaker proposes the question—

That grievances be noted—

any Member may address the Federation Chamber or move any amendment to the question. When debate is interrupted after one hour or if it concludes earlier, the Deputy Speaker shall adjourn the debate on the motion, and the resumption of the debate shall be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

I am assuming this will be extremely popular with the members because it will move the dinner break from 6.30 pm to 8 pm to 8 pm to 9.30 pm. This is a very important and significant change. It means 8 pm will be a hard finish—the House will rise at 8 pm. But it does not mean that the government or the House loses any time for government business or private members' business, because in fact we are increasing the hours in the Federation Chamber for private members' business.

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